Etymology

ultramicrobacterium

Today it means: A bacterium that is considerably smaller than typical bacterial cells and is 0.2 to 0.3 micrometers (200-300 nm) in diameter. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  2. Latinūls
  3. Latinultrā
  4. Englishultra-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
  6. Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
  7. Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
  8. Englishmicro-
  9. Ancient Greekβακτηρία (baktēría)
  10. Ancient Greekβακτήριον (baktḗrion)
  11. New Latinbactērium
  12. Englishbacterium
  13. English todayultramicrobacterium

From ultra- + micro- + bacterium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.