microplastic

English

Etymology

From micro- +‎ plastic.

Noun

microplastic (countable and uncountable, plural microplastics)

1. Small particles of plastic (typically less than 5 mm) produced by the degradation of plastic products, found in high levels in the marine environment and increasingly throughout all environments and in food and drinks.

   Hyponym: microbead

   • 2022 March 24, Damian Carrington, “Microplastics found in human blood for first time”, in The Guardian‎:

     Huge amounts of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and microplastics now contaminate the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.

   • 2023 June 5, Yvonne Gordon, “Microplastics found in every sample of water taken during Ocean Race”, in The Guardian‎:

     Sailors testing the waters during the Ocean Race, which travels through some of the world’s most remote ocean environments, have found microplastics in every sample.

   • 2024 December 17, Lex Harvey, “Microplastics are choking our waters. Could a sponge made of squid bones help remove them?”, in CNN‎:

     “Even under a variety of policies, including plastic product reduction, waste management, and environmental recycling, microplastic pollution is irreversible and escalating.”

Coordinate terms

• macroplastic
• megaplastic
• mesoplastic
• nanoplastic

Translations

small particles of plastic

Basque: mikroplastiko Catalan: microplàstic m Chinese: Mandarin: 微塑料 (wēisùliào) Danish: mikroplast (da) c Dutch: microplastic (nl) n Estonian: mikroplast Finnish: mikromuovi (fi) French: microplastique (fr) m Galician: microplástico m Georgian: მიკროპლასტმასი (miḳroṗlasṭmasi) German: Mikroplastik (de) n Greek: μικροπλαστικό n (mikroplastikó) Hungarian: mikroműanyag, mikroplasztik Interlingua: microplastico Italian: microplastica f Japanese: マイクロプラスチック (ja) (maikuropurasuchikku) Korean: 미세플라스틱 (misepeullaseutik) Malay: mikroplastik (ms) Polish: mikroplastik (pl) m Portuguese: microplástico (pt) m Romanian: microplastic n Russian: микропла́стик (ru) m (mikroplástik) Spanish: microplástico (es) m Thai: ไมโครพลาสติก (th) (mai-kroo-pláas-dtìk) Turkish: mikroplastik Ukrainian: мікропластик m (mikroplastyk)

Adjective

microplastic (not comparable)

1. Exhibiting microplasticity.

Further reading

• microplastics on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English microplastic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kroːˌplɛs.tɪk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧cro‧plas‧tic

Noun

microplastic n (plural microplastics, no diminutive)

1. (Netherlands) microplastic

   Synonym: microplastiek