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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

cilium.

A short microscopic hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism) which serve either for propulsion by causing currents in the surrounding fluid or as sensors.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsɪl.i.əm/
  1. A short microscopic hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism) which serve either for propulsion by causing currents in the surrounding fluid or as sensors.

  2. One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.

  3. One of the hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of an organ.

  4. An eyelash.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- Proto-Indo-European *-yom Proto-Indo-European *ḱelyom Proto-Italic *keljom Latin ciliumbor. English cilium Borrowed from Latin cilium (“eyelid”).

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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.