Etymology

microorganism

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Today it means: An organism that is too small to be seen by the unaided eye; especially, a single-celled organism, such as a bacterium. Full definition →

English organism ← Middle English organe ← Old French organe
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
  2. Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
  3. Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
  4. Englishmicro-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*werǵ-
  6. Ancient Greekὄργανον (órganon)
  7. Latinorganum
  8. Old Frenchorgane
  9. Middle Englishorgane
  10. Englishorgan
  11. Englishorganism
  12. English todaymicroorganism

From micro- + organism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.