petri dish

/ˈpɛtɹi ˌdɪʃ/US/ˈpiːtɹi ˌdɪʃ/

noun

A shallow glass dish, with a loose-fitting cover, used to culture bacteria.

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Meanings

petri dish1

nounpetri dish (plural petri dishes)

plural petri dishes

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of Petri dish.

Petri dish2

nounPetri dish (plural Petri dishes)

plural Petri dishes · alternative petri dish · alternative informal petri

  1. A shallow glass dish, with a loose-fitting cover, used to culture bacteria.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
petripetriplate

Origin

Named after German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri (1852–1921).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 培養皿 /培养皿
  • 培養皿 /培养皿 (péiyǎngmǐn)dish used to culture bacteria
Czech Petriho miska
  • Petriho miskadish used to culture bacteria
Danish petriskål
  • petriskåldish used to culture bacteria
Dutch petrischaal
  • petrischaaldish used to culture bacteria
Finnish elatusmalja, petrimalja
  • elatusmaljadish used to culture bacteria
  • petrimaljadish used to culture bacteria
French boîte de Petri
  • boîte de Petridish used to culture bacteria
German Petrischale
  • Petrischaledish used to culture bacteria
Hungarian Petri-csésze
  • Petri-csészedish used to culture bacteria
Indonesian cawan petri, piring makmal
  • cawan petridish used to culture bacteria
  • piring makmaldish used to culture bacteria
Malay ceper petri, piring petri
  • ceper petridish used to culture bacteria
  • piring petridish used to culture bacteria
Norwegian Bokmål petriskål
  • petriskåldish used to culture bacteria
Polish szalka Petriego
  • szalka Petriegodish used to culture bacteria
Portuguese placa de Petri
  • placa de Petridish used to culture bacteria
Russian ча́шка Пе́три
  • ча́шка Пе́три (čáška Pétri)dish used to culture bacteria
Spanish placa de Petri, cápsula de Petri
  • placa de Petridish used to culture bacteria
  • cápsula de Petridish used to culture bacteria
  • caja de Petridish used to culture bacteria
Swedish petriskål
  • petriskåldish used to culture bacteria
Tagalog pinggang Petri
  • pinggang Petridish used to culture bacteria
Cite this entry
APA

petri dish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petri%20dish

MLA

“petri dish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petri%20dish. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “petri dish,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petri%20dish.

Source: petri dish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.