microorganismとは 意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• micro-organism, microörganism

語源

From micro- +‎ organism.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌmaɪ.kɹəʊˈɔː.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
• (米国発音) IPA: /ˌmaɪ.kɹoʊˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/

名詞

microorganism (plural microorganisms)

1. (microbiology) An organism that is too small to be seen by the unaided eye; especially, a single-celled organism, such as a bacterium.

   Synonym: microbe

   The cud is then reswallowed and further digested by specialized microorganisms that live in the rumen.

   • 1957, Communicationes Veterinariae - Volumes 1-3, page 52:

     Bacillus anthracis: from the first up to the sixth day, this microorganism was isolatable, or in other words still alive.

   • 2015 July 11, “Antimicrobial Photoinactivation Using Visible Light Plus Water-Filtered Infrared-A (VIS + wIRA) Alters In Situ Oral Biofilms”, in PLOS ONE‎, →DOI:

     The differences in biofilm penetration patterns of both tested photosensitisers and the light source could have played an important role for the survival of microorganisms after the application of aPDT. In a recent own study, we showed that the deepest layers of the oral biofilm were not affected by the aPDT [4 ].

使用する際の注意点

• Whether viruses are alive, and thus whether they are microorganisms (microbes), is a matter of variable ontology; the semantic field of the word microorganism is often taken to include viruses in casual or broad terms, but not always in precise terms.
• GPO manual recommends using a hyphen to avoid doubling a vowel except after short prefixes. However, microorganism is several times more common than micro-organism in print and most dictionaries only have the spelling microorganism.

参考

• macroorganism

参照

Further reading

• “microorganism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “microorganism”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “microorganism”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.