Etymology

cyanobacterium

C3Y4A1N1O1B3A1C3T1E1R1I1U1M3

Today it means: Any of very many photosynthetic prokaryotic microorganisms, of phylum Cyanobacteria. Full definition →

English bacterium ← New Latin bactērium ← Ancient Greek βακτήριον (baktḗrion)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱwey-
  2. Proto-Hellenic*kúwanos
  3. Ancient Greekκῠ́ᾰνος (kŭ́ănos)
  4. Ancient Greekκῠᾰ́νεος (kŭắneos)
  5. Englishcyano-
  6. Ancient Greekβακτηρία (baktēría)
  7. Ancient Greekβακτήριον (baktḗrion)
  8. New Latinbactērium
  9. Englishbacterium
  10. English todaycyanobacterium

From cyano- + bacterium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.