Protista

[ proh-tis-tuh ]

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

1. a taxonomic kingdom comprising the protists.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Protista¹

From New Latin, dating back to 1875–80; protist

Example Sentences

He discovered and gave names to thousands of species, and he proposed the existence of a distinct biological kingdom: Protista, organisms that can’t be categorized as animal, plant or fungus.

From Washington Post

“My boy,” he said, “you shall be everything in the world, animal, vegetable, mineral, protista or virus, for all I care—before I have done with you—but you will have to trust to my superior backsight. The time is not yet ripe for you to be a hawk—for one thing Hob is still in the mews feeding them—so you may as well sit down for the moment and learn to be a human being.”

From Literature

“You shall be everything in the world, animal, vegetable, mineral, protista or virus, for all I care—before I have done with you,” he tells the boy.

From The New Yorker

David Rothenberg with Friend, Photo by Umru Rothenberg : The smallest individuals rule the world, from amoeba and unicellular protista to such lovely creatures as fleas, about whom the late Miriam Rothschild was –during her lifetime – the world authority.

From Forbes

Such forms are said to have a “distributed” nucleus, and among the Protozoa correspond to Haeckel’s “Protista.”

From Project Gutenberg