- the singular of bacteria
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
bac•te•ri•um /bækˈtɪriəm/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Microbiologythe singular form of bacteria.
bac•te•ri•um
(bak tēr′ē əm),USA pronunciation n.
- Microbiologysing. of bacteria.
- Greek bakté̄rion, diminutive of baktēría staff; akin to báktron stick, Latin baculum, bacillum
- Neo-Latin
- 1840–50
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
bac•te•ri•a /bækˈtɪriə/USA pronunciation
n. [plural], sing. bac•te•ri•um
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- /bækˈtɪriəm/.USA pronunciation
- Microbiologya group of microscopic, one-celled organisms, some of which are involved in infectious diseases, fermentation, and decay.
bac•te•ri•a
(bak tēr′ē ə),USA pronunciation n.pl., sing. -te•ri•um
bac•te′ri•al, adj.
bac•te′ri•al•ly, adv.
-
(-tēr′ē əm).USA pronunciation
- Microbiologyubiquitous one-celled organisms, spherical, spiral, or rod-shaped and appearing singly or in chains, comprising the Schizomycota, a phylum of the kingdom Monera (in some classification systems the plant class Schizomycetes), various species of which are involved in fermentation, putrefaction, infectious diseases, or nitrogen fixation.
- Greek bakté̄ria, plural of bakté̄rion; see bacterium
- Neo-Latin
- 1905–10
bac•te′ri•al•ly, adv.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
a very large group of microorganisms comprising one of the three domains of living organisms. They are prokaryotic, unicellular, and either free-living in soil or water or parasites of plants or animals
See also prokaryote
'bacterium' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
-bacter
- Bacillus thuringiensis
- Bang's disease
- MRSA
- Marshall
- acidophilus milk
- actinobacillosis
- aerobe
- amikacin
- amphotericin
- anaerobe
- anthrax
- antibody
- attenuate
- attenuation
- bacillus
- bact.
- bacteri-
- bacteria
- bacteriophage
- black arm
- black chaff
- black pit
- blackfire
- blackleg
- bleomycin
- botulinus
- braxy
- bubonic plague
- bug
- campylobacter
- cane gall
- chloramphenicol
- chlortetracycline
- cholera
- chromogen
- citrus canker
- coccus
- colicinogen
- coliphage
- colistin
- comma bacillus
- conjugation
- contagious abortion
- corynebacterium
- coryneform
- cotransduction
- crown gall
- cucurbit wilt
- cycloheximide