membrane
Appearance
See also: Membrane
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin membrāna (“skin or membrane that covers parts of the body”), from membrum (“a limb or member of the body”) + -āna. Doublet of membrana.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈmɛm.bɹeɪn/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛmbɹeɪn
Noun
[edit]membrane (countable and uncountable, plural membranes)
- (anatomy, zootomy) A flexible enclosing or separating tissue forming a plane or film and separating two environments.
- Hyponyms: aperture membrane, basement membrane, Bruch's membrane, cyclitic membrane, Descemet's membrane, hyaloid membrane, Jacob's membrane, mucous membrane, nictating membrane, nictitating membrane, Reissner's membrane, ruptured membrane, Schneiderian membrane, serous membrane, synovial membrane, tectorial membrane, tympanic membrane, virginal membrane, Zinn's membrane
- A mechanical, thin, flat flexible part that can deform or vibrate when excited by an external force.
- Hyponym: single-ply membrane
- A flexible or semiflexible covering or waterproofing whose primary function is to exclude water.
- 1964 October 2, “SYNTHETIC FILM CAN ACT AS GILL; Silicone Rubber Membrane Is Announced by G. E.”, in The New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 November 2025:
- The animal was breathing oxygen that permeated from the water through panels of membrane while carbon dioxide and other unwanted gases moved in the opposite direction—from the animal's enclosed atmosphere into the water.
- 2016 January 14, Jessica Hall, “Nanoengineers build 'microcannons' that fire light-up bullets filled with drugs”, in ExtremeTech[2]:
- Then they backed the membrane with a gel matrix containing a perfluorocarbon (PFC) propellant and fluorescent "nanobullets" about a micron wide, and hit it with ultrasound.
- (biology) A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.
- A piece of parchment forming part of a roll.
Derived terms
[edit]- biomembrane
- Bruch's membrane
- cell membrane
- complement membrane attack complex
- cytomembrane
- cytoplasmic membrane
- demembranated
- endomembrane
- exomembrane
- extramembrane
- geomembrane
- hemimembrane
- hyaline membrane disease
- ice dam membrane
- insane in the membrane
- integral membrane protein
- intermembrane
- intramembrane
- juxtamembrane
- membranaceous
- membranal
- membranate
- membrane attack complex
- membrane-bone
- membrane bone
- membranectomy
- membraned
- membrane distillation
- membrane filtration
- membrane keyboard
- membraneless
- membranelike
- membrane mimetic chemistry
- membraneous
- membrane potential
- membrane protein
- membrane separation
- membranic
- membraniferous
- membraniform
- membranized
- membranoid
- membranology
- membranome
- membranopathy
- membranophone
- membranosome
- membranotropic
- membranotropism
- membranous
- micromembrane
- monomembrane
- multimembrane
- mycomembrane
- nanomembrane
- neomembrane
- neuromembrane
- nonmembrane
- perimembrane
- peripheral membrane protein
- premembrane
- protected membrane roof
- pseudomembrane
- rupture of membranes
- submembrane
- supermembrane
- supramembrane
- thyrohyoid membrane
- transmembrane
Translations
[edit]enclosing or separating tissue
|
mechanical part
|
flexible covering
References
[edit]- “membrane”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “membrane”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]membrane f (plural membranes)
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “membrane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
Italian
[edit]Noun
[edit]membrane f pl
Romanian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]membrane
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛmbɹeɪn
- Rhymes:English/ɛmbɹeɪn/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Anatomy
- en:Animal body parts
- English terms with quotations
- en:Biology
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian noun forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian noun forms
