microorganism
See also: microörganism and micro-organism
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌmaɪ.kɹəʊˈɔː.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌmaɪ.kɹoʊˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
microorganism (plural microorganisms)
- (microbiology) An organism that is too small to be seen by the unaided eye; especially, a single-celled organism, such as a bacterium.
- Synonym: microbe
- The cud is then reswallowed and further digested by specialized microorganisms that live in the rumen.
Usage notes
- Whether viruses are alive, and thus whether they are microorganisms (microbes), is a matter of variable ontology; the semantic field of the word microorganism is often taken to include viruses in casual or broad terms, but not always in precise terms.
- GPO manual recommends using a hyphen to avoid doubling a vowel except after short prefixes.[1] However, microorganism is several times more common than micro-organism in print[2] and most dictionaries only have the spelling microorganism.
Translations
an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
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See also
References
- 6. Compounding Rules in U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, govinfo.gov
- (microorganism*0.2),micro-organism at Google Ngram Viewer
Further reading
- “microorganism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “microorganism”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “microorganism”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French microorganisme.
Declension
Declension of microorganism
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) microorganism | microorganismul | (niște) microorganisme | microorganismele |
| genitive/dative | (unui) microorganism | microorganismului | (unor) microorganisme | microorganismelor |
| vocative | microorganismule | microorganismelor | ||
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