What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Bacteria vs Pathogen - What's the difference?

bacteria | pathogen |

As nouns the difference between bacteria and pathogen

is that bacteria is plural of lang=enCategory:English plurals while pathogen is any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.

bacteria

English

Etymology 1

From .

Noun

(head)
  • English plurals
  • (US) A type, species, or strain of bacterium
  • * {{quote-book, 2002, A.C. Panchdhari, Water Supply and Sanitary Installations citation
    • , passage=Anaerobic bacteria' function in the absence of oxygen, where as aerobic '''bacteria''' require sunlight and also oxygen. Both these ' bacterias are capable of breaking down the organic matter
  • (US, proscribed)
  • (pejorative, slang) A derisive term for a lowlife or a slob (could be treated as plural or singular).
    • Usage notes
    * This is the plural form of the word. While it is often used as if it were singular (as a collective noun), this is considered nonstandard by some in the US and more elsewhere. See the usage examples under (bacterium).
    Derived terms
    * Bacteria * Eubacteria * Archaebacteria / Archebacteria * eubacteria * archaebacteria / archebacteria
    See also
    * culture (collective noun)

    Etymology 2

    From .

    Noun

    (bacteriae)
  • (dated, medicine) An oval bacterium, as distinguished from a spherical coccus or rod-shaped bacillus

    • Anagrams

    * * ----

    pathogen

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (pathology, immunology) Any organism or substance, especially a microorganism, capable of causing disease, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. Microorganisms are not considered to be pathogenic until they have reached a population size that is large enough to cause disease.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-01
    • , author=Katie L. Burke , title=Ecological Dependency , volume=101, issue=1, page=64 , magazine= citation , passage=In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.}}

    Derived terms

    * pathogenic * pathogenesis * pathogenous * pathogeny

    Anagrams

    * *