spirogyra

noun

spi·​ro·​gy·​ra ˌspī-rə-ˈjī-rə 

: any of a genus (Spirogyra) of freshwater green algae with spiral chloroplasts

Examples of spirogyra in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Specialists reckon that human run-off contributed to the lake’s latest crisis: the sudden and widespread appearance of a new form of algae, spirogyra. —The Economist, 22 Feb. 2018

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Spirogyra, genus name, from Latin spīra "coil, twist, whorl" + Greek -o- -o- + gȳrá, feminine of gȳrós "curved, rounded" — more at spire entry 3, gyre entry 1

Note: The genus was introduced by the German botanist Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (1767-1851) in "Epistola de algis aquaticis in genera disponendis," Horae physicae Berolinensis collectae ex symbolis virorum doctorum, edited by Christian Nees von Esenbeck (Bonn, 1820), p. 5.

First Known Use

1875, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

spirogyra

noun

spi·​ro·​gy·​ra ˌspī-rə-ˈjī-rə 

: any of a genus of freshwater green algae with spiral chloroplasts