Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Microbiology
/ˌmaɪkrəʊbaɪˈɒlədʒi/noun
The science of organisms too small to see unaided, including bacteria, viruses, fungi and protists.
The Greek roots
μικρός
mikrós
small
βίος
bíos
life
λόγος
lógos
study, account
Literally: “study of small life”
The story of the word
Microbe was coined in French in 1878 by the surgeon Charles Sédillot, who wanted one short word to replace the competing terms then in use, and microbiology followed within a decade. Purists complained at once that the compound literally says small life rather than small living thing, and that it should have been microbiote. Sédillot's version won because it was easier to say.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
microbemicroscopebiologybiographyantibiotic
In a sentence
He teaches first-year microbiology and runs the sequencing lab.
Hospital microbiology confirmed the isolate two days later.