food chain

See also: foodchain

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

food chain (plural food chains)

1. The feeding relationships between species in a biotic community.
2. (idiomatic) A hierarchy.

   With my promotion this month I will continue my steady journey to the top of the food chain.

Usage notes

Because the concept of the food chain implies a feeding hierarchy proceeding upwards to a top predator, modern ecologists usually prefer the term food web, since that term allows for a more complicated system of interactions.

Related terms

• food web
• trophic level

Translations

feeding relationship between species

• Basque: kate trofiko
• Catalan: cadena tròfica f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食物鏈 (zh), 食物链 (zh) (shíwùliàn), 營養鏈, 营养链 (yíngyǎngliàn)

• Czech: potravní řetězec m
• Danish: fødekæde (da) c
• Dutch: voedselketen (nl) f
• Esperanto: nutroĉeno
• Finnish: ravintoketju (fi)
• French: chaîne alimentaire (fr) f
• German: Nahrungskette (de) f
• Greek: τροφική αλυσίδα f (trofikí alysída)
• Hebrew: שרשרת מזון‎ (he) f (sharsheret mazon)
• Hungarian: tápláléklánc (hu)
• Irish: slabhra bia m

• Italian: catena alimentare f
• Japanese: 食物連鎖 (ja) (しょくもつれんさ, shokumotsu rensa)
• Korean: 먹이 사슬 (meogi saseul)
• Latvian: mitybos grandinė f
• Polish: łańcuch pokarmowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: cadeia alimentar (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਖੁਰਾਕ ਲੜੀ f (khurāk lṛī)
• Russian: пищева́я цепь f (piščevája cepʹ), трофи́ческая цепь f (trofíčeskaja cepʹ)
• Spanish: cadena alimentaria (es) f, cadena trófica f
• Swedish: näringskedja (sv)
• Thai: ห่วงโซ่อาหาร (hùuang-sôo-aa-hǎan)
• Turkish: besin zinciri (tr)
• Vietnamese: chuỗi thức ăn
• Welsh: cadwyn fwyd f

idiomatic: a hierarchy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 食物鏈 (zh), 食物链 (zh) (shíwùliàn), 等級制度 (zh), 等级制度 (zh) (děngjí zhìdù), 階層 (zh), 阶层 (zh) (jiēcéng), 层次 (zh) (céngcì)

• Danish: fødekæde (da) c, hakkeorden c (lit. "pecking order", referring to chickens)
• Dutch: pikorde (nl) f
• Finnish: ravintoketju (fi)

• Hungarian: tápláléklánc (hu)
• Japanese: 食物連鎖 (ja) (shokumotsu-rensa)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can