seston

S1E1S1T1O1N1

noun

All particulate matter suspended in bodies of water such as lakes and seas, including plankton, organic detritus, and inorganic material.

OriginGerman Seston →
Scrabble 6
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounseston (countable and uncountable, plural sestons)

plural sestons

  1. countableuncountableAll particulate matter suspended in bodies of water such as lakes and seas, including plankton, organic detritus, and inorganic material.

    Depending on mesh size and the area of investigation, net samples contain a variable mixture called seston. […] Nowadays plankton stands for the living part of seston, detritus for dead organic and inorganic particles.

    2000, L. Postel, H. Fock, W. Hagen, “Biomass and abundance”, in R[oger] P. Harris, P[eter] H. Wiebe, J[urgen] Lenz, H[ein-]R[une] Skjoldal, M[ark] Huntley, editors, ICES Zooplankton Methodology Manual, London; San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 83

Origin

  1. GermanSeston
  2. Englishseston

From German Seston, by surface analysis, Ancient Greek σηστός (sēstós, “sifter”, verbal adjective of σήθω (sḗthō, “I strain, filter”)) + -on. Compare plankton.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

stones
Cite this entry
APA

seston. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seston

MLA

“seston.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seston. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “seston,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/seston.

Source: seston on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.