bacterium

/ˈbæs.təˌri.əm/

noun

  1. A single-celled microscopic organism; some bacteria cause disease, while others are useful.

    B1

    countable; plural: bacteriaformal

    • "The doctor explained that the infection was caused by a harmful bacterium."B2
    • "Some bacteria help us digest food, whereas others can cause serious infections."B2

Common mistakes

  • bacterias→bacteria

    Bacteria is the plural of bacterium; bacterias is not normally used.

Collocations

harmful bacteriumpathogenic bacteriumsingle bacteriumbeneficial bacteriumbacterial infection

Word family

bacteriabacterialbacteriologybacteriologist