Etymology

bacteroid

B3A1C3T1E1R1O1I1D2

Today it means: A micro-organism such as a bacterium or yeast. Full definition →

Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos) ← Proto-Hellenic *wéidos ← Proto-Indo-European *wéydos
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greekβακτηρία (baktēría)
  2. Ancient Greekβακτήριον (baktḗrion)
  3. New Latinbactērium
  4. Englishbacterium
  5. Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*wéydos
  7. Proto-Hellenic*wéidos
  8. Ancient Greekεἶδος (eîdos)
  9. English todaybacteroid

From bacterium + -oid.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.