alga

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   one of a diverse group of chiefly aquatic photosynthetic organisms, ranging from microscopic single cells to large seaweeds and lacking the organs of land plants

   A green alga formed a thin film on the sunlit side of the pond.

Borrowed from Latin alga, 'seaweed.' The singular alga and plural algae became broad biological terms for several unrelated lineages of photosynthetic organisms rather than one formal taxonomic group.

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