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What is the difference between bacterium and bacteria?

bacterium | bacteria |

As nouns the difference between bacterium and bacteria

is that bacterium is (microbiology) a single celled organism with no nucleus while bacteria is (bacterium) or bacteria can be (dated|medicine) an oval bacterium, as distinguished from a spherical coccus or rod-shaped bacillus.

bacterium

English

Noun

(bacteria)
  • (microbiology) A single celled organism with no nucleus.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

    Usage notes

    * In most formal writing, . This is usually considered incorrect.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Hypernyms

    * prokaryote

    Derived terms

    * eubacterium * archaebacterium / archebacterium

    External links

    * (wikipedia "bacterium")

    See also

    * bacillus English nouns with irregular plurals ----

    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

    * * ----