bacillus
/bæˈsɪl.əs/ noun
Forms bacilli
- noun Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming aerobic bacteria in the genus Bacillus, some of which cause disease.
- noun Any bacilliform (rod-shaped) bacterium.
- noun (figurative, by extension) Something which spreads like bacterial infection.
Synonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin bacillus (“little staff, wand”), diminutive of baculum (“stick, staff, walking stick”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [NL., for L. bacillum. See Bacillarle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bacillus”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details