bacillus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any rod-shaped bacterium

   The microscope revealed a slender bacillus among the round bacterial cells.

2. 2
   noun

   a bacterium of the genus Bacillus, whose members are typically aerobic and form resistant spores

   The laboratory identified the organism as a Bacillus capable of forming spores.

Common collocations

• leprosy bacillus Noun + noun
• tubercle bacillus Noun + noun

A learned borrowing from Latin bacillus ("little staff or wand"), a diminutive of baculum ("stick, staff"). Microbiologists applied the word to rod-shaped bacteria because their cells resemble tiny rods. The taxonomic genus Bacillus retains a capital letter.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images