bacteria
A type, species, or strain of bacteriumA type, species, or strain of bacterium.
Recorded US: EncycloPetey, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» This bacterium is resistant to penicillin.
Dieses Bakterium ist resistent gegen Penicillin. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Эта бактерия устойчива к пенициллину. — marafon
Эта бактерия резистентна к пенициллину. — marafon
Hybrid · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRExamples
4 sentencesThis bacterium is resistant to penicillin.
ruЭта бактерия устойчива к пенициллину. — marafon
deDieses Bakterium ist resistent gegen Penicillin. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Do not confuse a virus with a bacterium.
deViren und Bakterien sollte man nicht verwechseln! — manese
Koalas face many threats, including chlamydia – a bacterium that can cause pneumonia and infertility.
Meaning
3 senses(US)A type, species, or strain of bacterium.
(derogatory, slang)Lowlife, slob (could be treated as plural or singular).
(dated)An oval bacterium, as distinguished from a spherical coccus or rod-shaped bacillus.
- (microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered to be plants
Origin
Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗBorrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”); by surface analysis, bacteri(um) + -a.
From New Latin bactēria, from Ancient Greek βακτηρίᾱ (baktēríā, “rod, stick”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: bacterias / bacteriaeSynonyms
1 synonyms- (microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered to be plants:bacterium
Word family
12 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.