microorganism

See also: microörganism and micro-organism

English

Alternative forms

• micro-organism, microörganism

Etymology

micro- +‎ organism

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪ.kɹəʊˈɔː.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmaɪ.kɹoʊˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

microorganism (plural microorganisms)

1. (microbiology) An organism that is too small to be seen by the unaided eye; especially, a single-celled organism, such as a bacterium.

   Synonym: microbe

   The cud is then reswallowed and further digested by specialized microorganisms that live in the rumen.

Usage notes

• Whether viruses are alive, and thus whether they are microorganisms (microbes), is a matter of variable ontology; the semantic field of the word microorganism is often taken to include viruses in casual or broad terms, but not always in precise terms.
• GPO manual recommends using a hyphen to avoid doubling a vowel except after short prefixes. However, microorganism is several times more common than micro-organism in print and most dictionaries only have the spelling microorganism.

Translations

an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye

• Arabic: مِيكْرُوب m (mikrūb)
• Armenian: միկրոօրգանիզմ (hy) (mikroōrganizm)
• Assamese: বীজাণু (bizanu)
• Asturian: microorganismu (ast) m
• Belarusian: мікрааргані́зм m (mikraarhanízm)
• Bulgarian: микрооргани́зъм (bg) m (mikroorganízǎm)
• Catalan: microorganisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微生物 (zh) (wéishēngwù)

• Czech: mikroorganismus (cs) m
• Danish: mikroorganisme (da) c
• Dutch: micro-organisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: mikroorganismo
• Estonian: mikroorganism
• Faroese: smávera f
• Finnish: mikro-organismi (fi)
• French: microorganisme (fr) m
• Galician: microorganismo (gl) m
• Georgian: მიკროორგანიზმი (miḳroorganizmi)
• German: Mikroorganismus (de) m
• Greek: μικροοργανισμός (el) m (mikroorganismós)
• Hebrew: מיקרואורגניזם (he) m (mikro'organízm)
• Hindi: सूक्ष्मजीव (sūkṣmajīv)
• Hungarian: mikroorganizmus (hu)
• Icelandic: örvera f
• Ido: mikroorganismo (io), mikrobo (io)
• Indonesian: mikroorganisme (id)
• Italian: microrganismo (it) m
• Japanese: 微生物 (ja) (びせいぶつ, biseibutsu)
• Kazakh: микроағза (mikroağza)
• Khmer: អតិសុខុមកាយ (ʼaʼtesokhomĕəʼkaay)
• Korean: 미생물(微生物) (ko) (misaengmul)
• Lao: ຈຸນລະຊີບ (lo) (chun la sīp)
• Latvian: mikroorganisms m
• Malay: mikroorganisma (ms)
• Maori: moroiti
• Marathi: सूक्ष्मजीव m (sūkṣmajīv)
• Navajo: chʼosh doo yitʼínii
• Occitan: microorganisme m
• Persian: میکروارگانیسم (mikro-orgânism)
• Polish: mikroorganizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: micro-organismo (pt) m, microrganismo (pt) m
• Romanian: microorganism (ro) n
• Russian: микрооргани́зм (ru) m (mikroorganízm)
• Serbo-Croatian: mikroorganìzam (sh) m
• Spanish: microorganismo (es) m
• Swedish: mikroorganism (sv) c
• Tagalog: miktataghay
• Tamil: நுண்ணுயிர் (ta) (nuṇṇuyir)
• Telugu: సూక్ష్మజీవి (te) (sūkṣmajīvi)
• Thai: จุลชีพ (th) (jun-lá-chêep), จุลินทรีย์ (th) (jù-lin-sii)
• Turkish: mikroorganizma (tr)
• Ukrainian: мікрооргані́зм m (mikroorhanízm)
• Vietnamese: vi trùng (vi) (微蟲), vi khuẩn (vi) (微菌), vi sinh vật (vi) (微生物)
• West Frisian: mikro-organisme

See also

• macroorganism

Further reading

• “microorganism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “microorganism”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “microorganism”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French microorganisme.

Noun

microorganism n (plural microorganisme)

1. microorganism

Declension

Declension of microorganism

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) microorganism	microorganismul	(niște) microorganisme	microorganismele
genitive/dative	(unui) microorganism	microorganismului	(unor) microorganisme	microorganismelor
vocative	microorganismule		microorganismelor