What does "pteropod" mean?

Any of free-swimming pelagic sea snails and sea slugs, of the suborder Thecosomata, that have winglike lobes on the feet; a sea butterfly.

What is a synonym for "pteropod"?

Common synonyms include: sea butterfly, sea butterfly.

Pteropod

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any of free-swimming pelagic sea snails and sea slugs, of the suborder Thecosomata, that have winglike lobes on the feet; a sea butterfly.
"Pteropods, also known as sea butterflies, are marine gastropods adapted to pelagic life.[…]When pteropods constitute a high percentage of the ooze the deposit is called pteropod ooze."

Synonyms

All synonyms

sea butterfly sea butterfly

Example

More examples

"Pteropods, also known as sea butterflies, are marine gastropods adapted to pelagic life.[…]When pteropods constitute a high percentage of the ooze the deposit is called pteropod ooze."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing, feather”) + ποδός (podós), genitive singular of πούς (poús, “foot, leg”). Equivalent to ptero- + -pod.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.