Etymology

enterobacterium

E1N1T1E1R1O1B3A1C3T1E1R1I1U1M3

Today it means: Any of very many gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae, many of which are pathogenic. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁énteros
  3. Ancient Greekἔντερον (énteron)
  4. New Latinentero-
  5. Englishentero-
  6. Ancient Greekβακτηρία (baktēría)
  7. Ancient Greekβακτήριον (baktḗrion)
  8. New Latinbactērium
  9. Englishbacterium
  10. English todayenterobacterium

From entero- + bacterium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.