Standard Lemma guide

hypha

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

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  • /ˈhaɪfə/
  • rhymes with -aɪfə
  • homophone: Haifa
  • homophone: heifer

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of the long, threadlike filaments that form the mycelium of a fungus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, mycology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of the threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fibril, filament, strand

Narrower terms: conidiophore, rhizomorph

History

Etymology

From New Latin hypha, from Ancient Greek ὑφή (huphḗ, “web”).

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Catalan: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Dutch: schimmeldraad — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Dutch: zwamdraad — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Dutch: hyfe — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Esperanto: hifo — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Finnish: sienirihma — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • French: hyphe — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Galician: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • German: Hyphe — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Hungarian: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Hungarian: gombafonal — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Hungarian: gombafonalak — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Indonesian: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Indonesian: benang jamur — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Italian: ifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Māori: torohihi — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Norwegian: hyfe — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Occitan: ifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Persian: نَخینه — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Polish: strzępka — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Portuguese: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Romanian: hifă — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Spanish: hifa — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Swedish: hyf — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Tagalog: hiblay — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus
  • Ukrainian: гіф (hif) — filament that forms the mycelium of a fungus