ecosystem

US /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ UK /ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/ See IPA manual

Freq #19138

Meanings

1

noun
All the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and their environment.

Pollution is threatening the delicate ecosystem of the coral reef.
2

noun
A network of connected people, companies, or products that depend on each other.

The app is part of a larger ecosystem of services made by the company.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms ecosystems

Derived forms agroecosystemecosystemicgeoecosystemmacroecosystemmesoecosystemmetaecosystemmicroecosystempalaeoecosystempaleoecosystemtechnoecosystem

Etymology

From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts in the journal Ecology.

Topics

Biology & Genetics Environment & Ecology

External links

# ecosystem

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈiːkəʊˌsɪstəm/
**Frequency rank:** 19138

## Meanings
1. All the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and their environment.
2. A network of connected people, companies, or products that depend on each other.

## Examples
- Pollution is threatening the delicate ecosystem of the coral reef.
- The app is part of a larger ecosystem of services made by the company.

## Derived Forms
- agroecosystem
- ecosystemic
- geoecosystem
- macroecosystem
- mesoecosystem
- metaecosystem
- microecosystem
- palaeoecosystem
- paleoecosystem
- technoecosystem

## Etymology
From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts in the journal Ecology.

## AI Etymology
Ecosystem comes from eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts in the journal Ecology. In current use, the main senses are “All the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and their environment” and “A network of connected people, companies, or products that depend on each other”.

## Topics
- Biology & Genetics
- Environment & Ecology

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