Standard Lemma guide

epithelium

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˌɛpɪˈθiːlɪəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːliəm
  • CMU ARPABET: EH2 P IH0 TH IY1 L Y AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A membranous tissue composed of one or more layers of cells which forms the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the body and its organs: internally including the lining of vessels and other small cavities, and externally being the skin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: epithelial tissue

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

membranous tissue covering internal organs and other internal surfaces of the body

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: epithelial tissue

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: animal tissue

Narrower terms: endothelium, mesothelium, neuroepithelium, decidua

History

Etymology

From New Latin epithēlium. By surface analysis, epi- + thel- + -ium.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: epiteelweefsel — membranous tissue
  • Arabic: نَسِيج طِلَائِيّ (nasīj ṭilāʔiyy) — membranous tissue
  • Basque: epitelio — membranous tissue
  • Bulgarian: епителна тъкан (epitelna tǎkan) — membranous tissue
  • Catalan: epiteli — membranous tissue
  • Chinese Mandarin: 上皮 (shàngpí) — membranous tissue
  • Czech: výstelka — membranous tissue
  • Czech: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Czech: epitelová tkáň — membranous tissue
  • Danish: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Dutch: epitheel — membranous tissue
  • Esperanto: epitelio — membranous tissue
  • Finnish: epiteelikudos — membranous tissue
  • French: épithélium — membranous tissue
  • German: Epithel — membranous tissue
  • Greek: επιθήλιο (epithílio) — membranous tissue
  • Hebrew: אפיתל — membranous tissue
  • Hungarian: hám — membranous tissue
  • Ido: epitelio — membranous tissue
  • Indonesian: jaringan epitel — membranous tissue
  • Italian: epitelio — membranous tissue
  • Italian: tessuto epiteliale — membranous tissue
  • Japanese: 上皮組織 (jōhi sosiki) — membranous tissue
  • Japanese: 上皮 (jōhi) — membranous tissue
  • Japanese: 上皮細胞 (jōhi saibō) — membranous tissue
  • Kazakh: эпителий (épitelii) — membranous tissue
  • Northern Kurdish: rûkeşeşane — membranous tissue
  • Northern Kurdish: şaneya rûkeş — membranous tissue
  • Latin: epithelium — membranous tissue
  • Latin: textus epithelialis — membranous tissue
  • Low German: epithel — membranous tissue
  • Malay: epitelium — membranous tissue
  • Norwegian: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Persian: بافت پوششی — membranous tissue
  • Polish: tkanka nabłonkowa — membranous tissue
  • Polish: tkanka graniczna — membranous tissue
  • Polish: nabłonek — membranous tissue
  • Portuguese: epitélio — membranous tissue
  • Romanian: țesut epitelial — membranous tissue
  • Russian: эпите́лий (epitélij) — membranous tissue
  • Serbo-Croatian: епително тки̑во — membranous tissue
  • Serbo-Croatian: epitelsko tkȋvo — membranous tissue
  • Slovak: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Slovene: krovno tkivo — membranous tissue
  • Spanish: epitelio — membranous tissue
  • Swedish: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Thai: เนื้อเยื่อบุผิว (néua yêua bù pĭw) — membranous tissue
  • Turkish: epitel — membranous tissue
  • Ukrainian: епітелій (epitelij) — membranous tissue
  • Urdu: ظہارہ — membranous tissue
  • Vietnamese: biểu mô — membranous tissue
Real reading context

epithelium in complete knowledge articles