protistescommon nounEtymologyexpandfrom the Greek protos (first), as the protists were considered the first eukaryotes and ancestors of animals, plants, etc.Definition1. One of the four kingdoms of eukaryotes in the classical classification, comprising all eukaryotes that are not in the kingdoms Animalia, Plantae or Fungi. It is generally divided into two parts: the protophytes and the protozoa. In the new phylogenetic classification, this group is no longer relevant.expandSynonymProtistaHyperonymeucaryotesHyponymsprotophytesprotozoairesTranslations