Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various eukaryotic organisms belonging to the kingdom Protoctista in some classification systems. Protoctists include unicellular and multicellular organisms that are not fungi, plants, or animals. They are usually now referred to as protists.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several unicellular protists, of the kingdom formerly named Protoctista but now named Protista
  • adjective Of or pertaining to these organisms

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of the unicellular protists

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Prōtoctista, kingdom name : Greek prōto-, proto- + Greek ktistos, produced, created (from ktizein, to create, establish; see tkei- in Indo-European roots).]

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