Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Alga |
AlgaNoun1. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "alga" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1791. (references) |
Etymology: Alga \Al"ga\, noun; plural Alg[ae]. [Latin expression, seaweed.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Aerospace | Any plants of a group of unicellular and multicellular primitive organisms that include the Chlorella, Scenedesmus, and other genera.The green algae and blue-green algae, for example, provide a possible means of photosynthesis in a closed ecological system, also a source of food.Plural, algae. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The algae (sing. alga) comprise several different groups of living things, most of which are plants, or have similarities to plants. However, some of them are not actually true members of the kingdom Plantae. All algae lack true leaves, roots, flowers, and other structures specific to higher plants. Traditionally they are distinguished from bacteria and protozoa mainly in that they are autotrophic, obtaining their energy through photosynthesis. They are no longer considered a natural group, but the term is still used for convenience. The botanical study of algae is called phycology.
Traditionally the cyanobacteria have been included here, referred to as the blue-green algae, though recent literature often specifically excludes them. Cyanobacteria are one of the first groups to appear in the fossil record, dating back to about 3800 million years ago, and probably played a large role in creating the Earth's oxygen atmosphere. They have a prokaryotic cell structure, and conduct photosynthesis directly in the cytoplasm.
All other algae are eukaryotes, and conduct photosynthesis within membrane-bound chloroplasts. These chloroplasts contain DNA and are very similar in structure to the cyanobacteria, and presumably represent reduced cyanobacterial endosymbionts. The exact nature of the chloroplasts is different among the different lines of algae, reflecting different endosymbiotic events. There are three groups which have primary chloroplasts:
Two other groups have green chloroplasts containing chlorophyll b, the euglenids and chlorarachniophytes. These are surrounded by three and four membranes, respectively, and were probably retained from an ingested green alga. Those of the chlorarchniophytes contain a small nucleomorph, which is the remnant of the alga's nucleus. It has been suggested that the euglenid chloroplasts only have three membranes because they were acquired through myzocytosis rather than phagocytosis.
The remaining algae all have chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and c. The latter of these is not known from any prokaryotes or primary chloroplasts, but genetic similarities suggest they are derived from red algae. These groups include:
Most of the simpler algae are unicellular flagellates or amoeboids, but colonial and non-motile forms have developed independently among several of the groups. Some of the more common organizational levels, more than one of which may occur in the life cycle of a species, are:
Algae are an extremely important part of water ecology. Larger algae, called seaweeds, grow in large underwater "forests" that provide distinctive habitats. Microscopic forms, called phytoplankton, provide most of the energy for marine ecosystems. Sometimes these are present in exceptionally large quantities, called algal blooms, which are typically visible as a weaker or stronger discoloration of the water. A few algae are eaten, or used to make various products. A great deal more could be said here...
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Alga."
Synonym: AlgaSynonym: algae (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Alga |
| English words defined with "alga": algal, antherozoid ♦ chlorella, Crow-silk ♦ diatom ♦ Erythrite ♦ Laminarite ♦ Melanosperm, Moorball, Mountain laver ♦ Rhabdolith ♦ spermatozoid ♦ Water flannel ♦ yellow-green algae. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "alga": alga sapropel, algal mat, American National Standard ♦ Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ♦ Elysia subornata, Euglena gracilis ♦ Gracilaria gracilis, Gracilaria spage ♦ Immundiffusion ♦ Kainic Acid ♦ Lichens ♦ photobiont, Prototheca ♦ Ulva rigida. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "alga": Algoid, Algology, Algous. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Alga" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Basque (algae, see-weed), Faeroese (alga, seaweed), Hungarian (alga, alga, algae, algae, seaweed), Italian (alga, kelp, seaweed), Latin (alga, algae, seaweed, sea-weed), Occitan (algae, see-weed), Portuguese (alga, algae, seaweed, water plant), Serbo-Croatian (alga), Spanish (alga, sea wrack, seaware, seaweed). |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Alga.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | This has created a relatively recent trend on the part of municipalities to look for biological technologies to remove phosphorus and nitrogen from sewage sludge, which results in these alga blooms. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Kazakhstan | The criminal proceedings were instituted after Abay Eschanov, a judge in the Alga district court, filed a suit stating that he had been insulted in an article Adorov wrote for Evrika newspaper. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Alga" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Alga" is used about 15 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 15 | 90,616 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "alga": green alga. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "alga": alga-lichen-moss. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
alga | 27 |
alga spirulina | 10 |
alga plastic | 3 |
alga spirogyra | 2 |
alga hotel | 2 |
alga marinha | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "alga"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | alge (seaweed), alg (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | algë leshterik (water plant), algë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | طحلب (algae, moss), أشنة, بادئة معناها الم. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | водорасло. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 海藻 (Algae). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | řasa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | alge. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | zeewier (seaweed), wier (of which, seaweed, which one's, whose), alge (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | algo (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | alga (seaweed), tari (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | خزه ء دریاءی . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | levä. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | algue (algoid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | seewier (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Alge (seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φύκι (kelp, seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | אצ" (sea weed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | moszat (algae), alga (algae, seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | alga (kelp, seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 조류 (Algae). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | famlagh (kelp, sargasso, seaweed, wrack), algey. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | algaay alga (algae, seaweed, water plant). (various references) algã marinã (seaweed, wrack). (various references) водоросль (algae, seaweed, water plant, water-plant). (various references) alga. (various references) alga (sea wrack, seaware, seaweed). (various references) alg (seaweed). (various references) alg (algae), yosun (algae, hydrophyte, lichen, moss, seaweed), suyosunu (algae, seaweed). (various references) морська водорість (ore-weed, seaware, seaweed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | alga. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "alga": algae, algaecide, algaecides, algal, algaroba, algarobas, algarroba, algarrobas, algas. (additional references) | |
Words containing "alga": amalgam, amalgamate, amalgamated, amalgamates, amalgamating, amalgamation, amalgamations, amalgamator, amalgamators, amalgams, realgar, realgars, unialgal. (additional references) | |
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"Alga" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aalge, abgal, acgm, aega, Agah, agal, agao, agaw, agaz, Agca, agga, agl, agle, agli, agma, Aigai, Aigu, akg, alac, alagal, Alagi, alah, alak, alax, Alca, alea, aleg, alegal, alegra, Alfgar, alg, algas, algat, alge, algea, algen, Algeo, algi, algia, algii, alia, alka, alla, alloa, allua, aloa, aloge, Alogo, alpa, altan, Altgraf, alua, alwa, alya, Alza, Anga, Angba, Apg, auga, avg, Azgal, dalgas, Elga, galaga, Igla, ilga, laag, Laga, lagal, lagi, lagia, lagu, lega, Lga, ugla, yalg, Yalgaar. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "alga" (pronounced 'Al"ga'): Abanga, Anhinga, Auriga, Badiaga, Beccabunga, Bega, Beluga, Biga, Caatinga, Cotinga, Durga, Fanega, Fuga, massasauga, Moringa, Munga, Omega, Onagga, Plaga, Quadriga, Quagga, ruga, saiga, Siaga, Telega, Ticpolonga, toga, Tringa, Yoga, Ziega. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: gala. | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-g-l" | |
-1 letter: aal, aga, ala, gal, lag. | |
-2 letters: aa, ag, al, la. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-g-l" | |
+1 letter: alang, algae, algal, algas, argal, galah, galas, galax, galea, gayal, graal, lagan, vagal. | |
+2 letters: aglare, agleam, agnail, agonal, alegar, analog, anlage, argala, argali, argals, galago, galahs, galaxy, galeae, galeas, galena, galyac, galyak, gavial, gayals, gelada, graals, laager, lagans, laguna, lavage, plagal, raglan, stalag. | |
+3 letters: abigail, adagial, agnails, alegars, algebra, amalgam, analgia, analogs, analogy, anginal, angular, anlagen, anlages, apogeal, argalas, argalis, arugola, arugula, augural, catalog, coagula, flagman, fleabag, gadwall, galabia, galagos, galatea, galaxes, galeate, galenas, gallant, gallate, galleta, galyacs, galyaks, gamelan, ganglia, garland, gastral, gavials, geladas, gharial, glacial, gnathal, gonadal, gradual, granola, gravlax, graylag, haulage, haylage, laagers, laggard, lagunas, lasagna, lasagne, lavages, leafage, leakage, logania, magical, mailbag, malanga, myalgia, otalgia, paginal, raglans, realgar, regalia, salvage, scalage, stalags, tallage, vagally, vaginal, wagtail. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 6C 67 61 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- .-.. --. .- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01101100 01100111 01100001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A l g a |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 006C 0067 0061 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)35787367 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Orthography | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
