Small specks or spots that appear to drift across your vision, usually caused by tiny particles in the fluid inside your eye.
From float + -er (one who floats or something that floats) + -s (plural). Medical terminology adopted the common word 'floater' to describe these visual phenomena because they appear to float in your field of vision.
Floaters are actually dead cells or collagen fibers drifting in the vitreous humor of your eye—they're technically inside your eyeball, which is why they move with your eye when you try to look directly at them, creating that frustrating dance.
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