Etymology

spirobacterium

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Today it means: Any bacterium found in spiral filaments, such as the genus Vibrio. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sper-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sper-yeh₂-
  3. Ancient Greekσπεῖρα (speîra)
  4. Latinspīra
  5. Englishspiro-
  6. Ancient Greekβακτηρία (baktēría)
  7. Ancient Greekβακτήριον (baktḗrion)
  8. New Latinbactērium
  9. Englishbacterium
  10. English todayspirobacterium

From spiro- + bacterium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.