US /bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/ UK /bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/
noun Freq #7616

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    Tiny living things, too small to see, that exist almost everywhere and can cause disease or help digestion.

    Washing your hands helps stop harmful bacteria from spreading.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · tiny living things, too... bacterium
Word family
Forms bacterialbacterias
Derived forms archaebacteriaarchebacteriabacterialessbacterinbacteriosisbacteriuriabacterivorebacterizeeubacteriapseudobacteriaspherobacteria
Related forms culture

Etymology

From New Latin bactēria, from Ancient Greek βακτηρίᾱ (baktēríā, “rod, stick”).

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Topics

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