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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bacteria.

A type, species, or strain of bacterium.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/Received-Pronunciation/bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/General-American
  1. A type, species, or strain of bacterium.

    US
  2. Alternative form of bacterium.

    US · alt-of · alternative · proscribed
  3. Lowlife, slob (could be treated as plural or singular).

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Ancient Greek βακτηρία (baktēría) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ῐος (-ĭos)? Ancient Greek -ιον (-ion) Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion)bor. New Latin bactēriabor. English bacteria Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”); by surface analysis, bacteri(um) + -a.

noun/bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/Received-Pronunciation/bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/General-American
  1. An oval bacterium, as distinguished from a spherical coccus or rod-shaped bacillus.

    dated
Where this word comes from

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

noun/bakˈtɪə̯.ri.ə/Received-Pronunciation/bækˈtɪɹ.i.ə/General-American
  1. plural of bacterium

    form-of · plural
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Ancient Greek βακτηρία (baktēría) Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Ancient Greek -ῐος (-ĭos)? Ancient Greek -ιον (-ion) Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion)bor. New Latin bactēriabor. English bacteria Borrowed from New Latin bacteria, plural of bactērium, from Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion, “little rod”); by surface analysis, bacteri(um) + -a.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.