Meanings
plural springtails
- Any of various wingless hexapods, of the subclass Collembola, with spring-like legs.First known use 18th c.
Among the wonders of the natural world that few people have ever noticed: a semiaquatic springtail in motion.
2022 November 7, Oliver Whang, “Why Fly or Swim When You Can Jump? Ask the Springtail.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN1 more example
Springtails, or collembolans, are strictly not insects because of technicalities to do with the position of their mouthparts, but they are the closest cousins of insects.
2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 214
Synonyms & antonyms
nounany of numerous minute wingless primitive insects possessing a special abdominal appendage that allows the characteristic nearly perpetual springing pattern; found in soil rich in organic debris or on the surface of snow or water
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Catalan col·lèmbol
- col·lèmbolspringtail
Chinese Mandarin 跳蟲 /跳虫
- 跳蟲 /跳虫 (tiàochóng)springtail
Finnish hyppyhäntäinen
- hyppyhäntäinenspringtail
French collembole
- collembolespringtail
German Springschwanz
- Springschwanzspringtail
Irish preabaire
- preabairespringtail
Italian collembolo
- collembolospringtail
Korean 톡토기
- 톡토기 (toktogi)springtail
Polish skoczogonek
- skoczogonekspringtail
Russian колле́мбола, ногохво́стка
- колле́мбола (kollémbola)springtail
- ногохво́стка (nogoxvóstka)springtail
Swedish hoppstjärt
- hoppstjärtspringtail
Ukrainian коле́мбола
- коле́мбола (kolémbola)springtail
Cite this entry
springtail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/springtail
“springtail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/springtail. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “springtail,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/springtail.
Source: springtail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.