inoculus

I1N1O1C3U1L1U1S1
US/ɪˈnɒkjələs/

A form of inoculum — The active material used in an inoculation; an inoculant (i.e., a material or a dose thereof).

Scrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nouninoculus (plural inoculi)

plural inoculi

  1. misconstructionrarebiologyMisconstruction of inoculum.

Origin

By misremembering a neuter Latin noun as being a masculine one. The same error happens with others as well (for example, with *diverticulus/diverticuli for diverticulum/diverticula); it is relevant in scientific contexts where English uses many learned borrowings from New Latin.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

inoculous
Cite this entry
APA

inoculus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inoculus

MLA

“inoculus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inoculus. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inoculus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inoculus.

Source: inoculus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.