microbe

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word microbe. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word microbe, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say microbe in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word microbe you have here. The definition of the word microbe will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmicrobe, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From French microbe, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, small) and βίος (bíos, life). By surface analysis, micro- +‎ -obe.

Pronunciation

Noun

microbe (plural microbes)

  1. (microbiology) Any microorganism; (loosely, nonscientifically) especially, a harmful bacterium.
    • 2015 March 13, Ben Brumfield, “You may be your germs: Microbe genes slipped into human DNA, study says”, in CNN:
      We humans and other complex animals are full of microbes, gajillions of them. People have so many that microbe cells living in our bodies outnumber our own vastly.
    • 2019 October 7, Sandee LaMotte, “The germiest place in your home and the best way to combat those microbes”, in CNN:
      Yes, there are microbes everywhere and most are just fine for us, perhaps even beneficial to our microbiomes and immune systems. We don’t care about those.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Welsh: microb

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French microbe, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, small) and βίος (bíos, life).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌmiˈkroː.bə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: mi‧cro‧be

Noun

microbe f (plural microben or microbes, diminutive microbetje n)

  1. (microbiology) microbe

Derived terms

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, small) and βίος (bíos, life).

Pronunciation

Noun

microbe m (plural microbes)

  1. (microbiology) microbe

Descendants

Further reading