Standard Lemma guide

organelle

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.

  • US: /ˌɔɹ.ɡənˈɛl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛl

1

noun

Meaning 1

A specialized structure found inside cells that carries out a specific life process (e.g. ribosomes, vacuoles).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, cytology, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a specialized part of a cell; analogous to an organ

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the first organelle to be identified was the nucleus

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cell organelle, cell organ

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organ

Narrower terms: cilium, lysosome, nucleus, cell nucleus, karyon, nucleolus, nucleole, mitochondrion, chondriosome, centriole, ribosome

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-der. Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon)bor. Latin organumder. Old French organebor. Middle English organe English organ English -elle English organelle From organ + -elle.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: orgànul — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Chinese Mandarin: 胞器 (bāoqì) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Chinese Mandarin: 細胞器 /细胞器 (xìbāoqì) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Czech: organela — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Dutch: organel — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Finnish: soluelin — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • French: organite — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • German: Organell — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • German: Organelle — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Hebrew: אברון (evron) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Hungarian: sejtszervecske — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Hungarian: sejtorganellum — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Icelandic: frumulíffæri — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Ido: organeto — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Indonesian: organel — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Irish: orgánaid — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Japanese: 細胞小器官 (saibō shōkikan) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Kazakh: органоид (organoid) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Khmer: ធាតុកោសិកា (thiət kaosekaa) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Korean: 세포소기관 (seposogigwan) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Northern Kurdish: endamok — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Macedonian: органе́ла (organéla) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Māori: wāhanga pūtau — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Occitan: organèla — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Polish: organella — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Polish: organellum — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Polish: organoid — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Portuguese: organela — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Portuguese: organelo — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Russian: органе́лла (organɛ́lla) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Russian: органо́ид (organóid) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Serbo-Croatian: orgànela — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Spanish: orgánulo — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Spanish: organelo — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Spanish: elemento celular — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Swedish: organell — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Turkish: organel — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Ukrainian: органе́ла (orhanéla) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Ukrainian: органо́їд (orhanójid) — a membrane bound compartment found within cells
  • Vietnamese: bào quan — a membrane bound compartment found within cells