Standard Lemma guide

microorganism

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌmaɪ.kɹəʊˈɔː.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
  • US: /ˌmaɪ.kɹoʊˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.m̩/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AY2 K R OW0 AO1 R G AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, microbiology, natural-sciences

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: microbe

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any organism of microscopic size

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: micro-organism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organism, being

Narrower terms: monad, intestinal flora, virus, moneran, moneron, bacteria, bacterium, microbe, bug, germ, pathogen, protoctist, protist, protistan, microflora

History

Etymology

From micro- + organism.

Across languages

Translations

59 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِيكْرُوب (mikrūb) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Armenian: միկրոօրգանիզմ (mikroōrganizm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Assamese: বীজাণু (bizanu) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Asturian: microorganismu — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Belarusian: мікрааргані́зм (mikraarhanízm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Bulgarian: микрооргани́зъм (mikroorganízǎm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Catalan: microorganisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Chinese Mandarin: 微生物 (wéishēngwù) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Czech: mikroorganismus — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Danish: mikroorganisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Dutch: micro-organisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Esperanto: mikroorganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Estonian: mikroorganism — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Faroese: smávera — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Finnish: mikro-organismi — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • French: microorganisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • West-Frisian: mikro-organisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Galician: microorganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Georgian: მიკროორგანიზმი (miḳroorganizmi) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • German: Mikroorganismus — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Greek: μικροοργανισμός (mikroorganismós) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Hebrew: מיקרואורגניזם (mikro'organízm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Hindi: सूक्ष्मजीव (sūkṣmajīv) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Hungarian: mikroorganizmus — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Icelandic: örvera — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Ido: mikroorganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Ido: mikrobo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Indonesian: mikroorganisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Italian: microrganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Japanese: 微生物 (biseibutsu) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Kazakh: микроағза (mikroağza) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Khmer: អតិសុខុមកាយ (ʼaʼtesokhomĕəʼkaay) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Korean: 미생물 (misaengmul) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Lao: ຈຸນລະຊີບ (chun la sīp) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Latvian: mikroorganisms — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Malay: mikroorganisma — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Māori: moroiti — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Marathi: सूक्ष्मजीव (sūkṣmajīv) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Navajo: chʼosh doo yitʼínii — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Occitan: microorganisme — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Persian: میکروارگانیسم (mikro-orgânism) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Polish: mikroorganizm — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Portuguese: micro-organismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Portuguese: microrganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Romanian: microorganism — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Russian: микрооргани́зм (mikroorganízm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Serbo-Croatian: mikroorganìzam — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Spanish: microorganismo — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Swedish: mikroorganism — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Tagalog: miktataghay — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Tamil: நுண்ணுயிர் (nuṇṇuyir) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Telugu: సూక్ష్మజీవి (sūkṣmajīvi) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Thai: จุลชีพ (jun-lá-chêep) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Thai: จุลินทรีย์ (jù-lin-sii) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Turkish: mikroorganizma — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Ukrainian: мікрооргані́зм (mikroorhanízm) — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Vietnamese: vi trùng — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Vietnamese: vi khuẩn — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye
  • Vietnamese: vi sinh vật — an organism too small to be seen by unaided eye