amphipod
noun
am·phi·pod ˈam(p)-fi-ˌpäd 
: any of a large order (Amphipoda) of small crustaceans (such as the sand flea) with a laterally compressed body
amphipod adjective
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web PCBs, for example, have been detected in high levels within tiny ocean crustaceans called amphipods that had consumed plastics. 
Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2020 Cusk eels like to eat amphipods, white prawn-like crustaceans that populate the trenches in large numbers. Susan Casey, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2019 The animal ended up dying from unknown causes about three months after the researchers collected the amphipods. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 29 Oct. 2019 Some amphipods are known to swarm creatures that enter their territory, including human scuba divers. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 29 Oct. 2019 Some amphipods are tiny, but others, known as supergiants, can grow up to 13 inches long. Susan Casey, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2019 British researchers collected amphipods (shrimplike crustaceans) from six of the world’s deepest ocean trenches and found that eighty per cent of them had microplastic in their digestive tracts. Carolyn Kormann, The New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2019 Yet those giant amphipods and other creatures with exoskeletons seem to fare better at depths. Eva Botkin-kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Aug. 2019 Earlier this year, a study sampled amphipods in six deep-sea trenches, including the Mariana, and found all were ingesting microplastics. Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 13 May 2019 See More
Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2020 Cusk eels like to eat amphipods, white prawn-like crustaceans that populate the trenches in large numbers. Susan Casey, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2019 The animal ended up dying from unknown causes about three months after the researchers collected the amphipods. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 29 Oct. 2019 Some amphipods are known to swarm creatures that enter their territory, including human scuba divers. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 29 Oct. 2019 Some amphipods are tiny, but others, known as supergiants, can grow up to 13 inches long. Susan Casey, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2019 British researchers collected amphipods (shrimplike crustaceans) from six of the world’s deepest ocean trenches and found that eighty per cent of them had microplastic in their digestive tracts. Carolyn Kormann, The New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2019 Yet those giant amphipods and other creatures with exoskeletons seem to fare better at depths. Eva Botkin-kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 Aug. 2019 Earlier this year, a study sampled amphipods in six deep-sea trenches, including the Mariana, and found all were ingesting microplastics. Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 13 May 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
from stem of New Latin Amphipoda, order name, from Greek amphi- amphi- + -poda, neuter plural of -podos "having feet (of the kind indicated)," derivative of poús "foot" — more at foot entry 1
Note: The taxon was introduced by the French zoologist Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833) in Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, nouvelle édition, tome 1 (Paris, 1816), p. 467. The name refers to the two distinct kind of legs borne by amphipods.
First Known Use
1833, in the meaning defined above