Salp

//sælp// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of the free-swimming tunicates of the order Salpida and its single family Salpidae.

    "Salps are capable of self-propulsion, but for the most part, these translucent, gelatinous-looking animals float in mid-water going wherever the prevailing currents take them.[…]At times a number of buds are attached to one another in linked chains commonly called salp chains."

  2. 2
    minute floating marine tunicate having a transparent body with an opening at each end wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
salpasalpa

Example

More examples

"Salps are capable of self-propulsion, but for the most part, these translucent, gelatinous-looking animals float in mid-water going wherever the prevailing currents take them.[…]At times a number of buds are attached to one another in linked chains commonly called salp chains."

Etymology

From French salpe, from Ancient Greek σᾰ́λπη (sắlpē, “porgy”). Doublet of salpa.

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