organism

English

Etymology

From organ +‎ -ism, from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon, “tool, instrument”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“work”). Compare Medieval Latin organismus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ôr′gə-nĭz'əm
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.ɡəˌnɪz.əm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.əm/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Noun

organism (plural organisms)

1. (obsolete, rare) The fact of being organic; organicity. [18th–19th c.]
2. Something with many separate interdependent parts, seen as being like a living thing; an organic system. [from 18th c.]
   • 1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 52:

     For the first time, Edith was aware of the hotel as a well populated organism, its attendants merely resting until an appropriate occasion should summon them to present themselves […] .

3. (biology) A discrete and complete living thing, such as animal, plant, fungus or microorganism. [from 19th c.]
   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:organism

Derived terms

• macro-organism
• micro-organism
• model organism
• model-organism
• mycoplasma-like organism
• organismal
• organismic
• organismically
• paleo-organism
• proto-organism
• super organism
• Vincent's organism

 

Translations

living thing

• Afrikaans: organisme
• Albanian: organizëm (sq) m
• Arabic: (indefinite) مُتَعَضٍّ f (mutaʕaḍḍin), (definite) الْمُتَعَضِّي f (al-mutaʕaḍḍī), عُضْوِيَّة f (ʕuḍwiyya), مَوْجُود (ar) m (mawjūd)
• Aragonese: organismo m
• Armenian: օրգանիզմ (hy) (ōrganizm)
• Assamese: জীৱ (ziw)
• Asturian: organismu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani:

  Abjad: وجود (wujūd), عضويت (üzviyyät)

  Roman: orqanizm

• Bashkir: организм (organizm)
• Basque: organismo
• Belarusian: аргані́зм m (arhanízm)
• Bengali: জীব (jib)
• Bulgarian: органи́зъм (bg) m (organízǎm)
• Burmese: သတ္တဝါ (my) (satta.wa)
• Catalan: organisme (ca) m
• Chechen: дийнат (diı̇nat)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 生物 (sang¹ mat⁶)

  Hokkien: 生物 (zh-min-nan) (seng-bu̍t)

  Mandarin: 生物 (zh) (shēngwù), 有機體／有机体 (zh) (yǒujītǐ)

• Czech: organismus (cs) m
• Danish: organisme (da) c
• Dutch: organisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: organismo (eo)
• Estonian: organism (et), elusorganism, elusolend
• Faroese: vera (fo) f, lívvera f, skepna f
• Finnish: eliö (fi), organismi (fi)
• French: organisme (fr) m
• Galician: organismo (gl) m
• Georgian: ორგანიზმი (organizmi)
• German: Organismus (de) m, Lebewesen (de) n
• Greek: οργανισμός (el) m (organismós)
• Haitian Creole: òganis
• Hebrew: אוֹרְגָּנִיזְם (he) m (organízm), יְצוּר (he) m (yetsúr)
• Hindi: जीव (hi) m (jīv)
• Hungarian: organizmus (hu), élőlény (hu)
• Icelandic: lífvera (is) f
• Ido: organismo (io)
• Indonesian: organisme (id)
• Interlingua: organismo
• Irish: orgánach m
• Italian: organismo (it) m
• Japanese: 生物 (ja) (せいぶつ, seibutsu), 有機体 (ゆうきたい, yūkitai)
• Kazakh: ағза (ağza), организм (organizm)
• Khmer: ភាវរស់ (phiəvĕəʼrŭəh)
• Korean: 생물(生物) (ko) (saengmul), 유기체(有機體) (ko) (yugiche), 생물체(生物體) (ko) (saengmulche)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zîndewer (ku), organîzma (ku)

• Kyrgyz: организм (organizm)
• Lao: ສິ່ງມີຊີວິດ (lo) (sing mī sī wit)
• Latin: organismus m
• Latvian: organisms m
• Lithuanian: organizmas m
• Macedonian: органи́зам m (organízam)
• Malay: organisma (ms)
• Maori: rauropi, kaiao
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: организм (organizm), махбод (mn) (maxbod)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: organisme (no) m

  Nynorsk: organisme m

• Ottoman Turkish: عضویت (ouzviyyet)
• Pashto: ارګانیزم m (organizm)
• Persian: سازواره (fa) (sâzvâre), ارگانیسم (fa) (orgânism)
• Polish: organizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: organismo (pt) m
• Romanian: organism (ro) n
• Russian: органи́зм (ru) m (organízm)
• Samogitian: uorganėzmos m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: органѝзам m

  Roman: organìzam (sh) m

• Slovak: organizmus (sk) m
• Slovene: organizem (sl) m
• Spanish: organismo (es) m
• Swedish: organism (sv) c
• Tagalog: tataghay, bagahay
• Tajik: организм (organizm)
• Telugu: జీవి (te) (jīvi)
• Thai: สิ่งมีชีวิต (th) (sìng-mii-chii-wít)
• Turkish: organizma (tr), canlı (tr)
• Turkmen: organizm
• Ukrainian: органі́зм (uk) m (orhanízm)
• Uyghur: ئورگانىزم (organizm)
• Uzbek: organizm (uz)
• Venetian: organizmo m
• Vietnamese: sinh vật (vi)
• Welsh: organeb (cy) f
• Yiddish: אָרגאַניזם m (organizm)

any complex thing with properties normally associated with living things

• Belarusian: аргані́зм m (arhanízm)
• Bulgarian: органи́зъм (bg) m (organízǎm)
• Catalan: organisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生物 (zh) (shēngwù), 有機體／有机体 (zh) (yǒujītǐ), 有機體／有机体 (zh) (yǒujītǐ)

• Finnish: organismi (fi)
• Galician: organismo (gl) m
• Italian: organismo (it) m
• Japanese: 有機体 (ゆうきたい, yūkitai)
• Korean: 유기체(有機體) (ko) (yugiche)
• Malay: organisma (ms)
• Maori: rauropi
• Portuguese: organismo (pt) m
• Russian: органи́зм (ru) m (organízm)
• Spanish: organismo (es) m
• Swedish: organism (sv) c
• Turkish: organizma (tr)
• Ukrainian: органі́зм (uk) m (orhanízm)

Anagrams

• moringas, roamings, sinogram

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French organisme.

Noun

organism n (plural organisme)

1. organism

Declension

Declension of organism

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) organism	organismul	(niște) organisme	organismele
genitive/dative	(unui) organism	organismului	(unor) organisme	organismelor
vocative	organismule		organismelor

Swedish

Noun

organism c

1. (biology) an organism
2. (figuratively) an organism (something with many separate interdependent parts)

Declension

Declension of organism
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	organism	organismen	organismer	organismerna
Genitive	organisms	organismens	organismers	organismernas

Derived terms

• mikroorganism

References

• organism in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• organism in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• organism in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)