Standard Lemma guide

phagocyte

noun · verb · 3 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.

  • /ˈfeɪɡəsaɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F AE1 G AH0 S AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A cell of the immune system, such as a neutrophil, macrophage or dendritic cell, that engulfs and destroys viruses, bacteria and waste materials, or in the case of mature dendritic cells; displays antigens from invading pathogens to cells of the lymphoid lineage.

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

verb

Meaning 2

To phagocytize

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a cell that engulfs and digests debris and invading microorganisms

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: scavenger cell

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: somatic cell, vegetative cell

Narrower terms: macrophage, fixed phagocyte, free phagocyte

History

Etymology

From the German Phagocyt, modified on the pattern of -cyte; phago- + -cyte.

Either from the noun or from the French phagocyter.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: fagòcit — cell of the immune system
  • Chinese Mandarin: 吞噬細胞 /吞噬细胞 (tūnshì xìbāo) — cell of the immune system
  • Czech: fagocyt — cell of the immune system
  • Dutch: fagocyt — cell of the immune system
  • Finnish: syöjäsolu — cell of the immune system
  • Finnish: fagosyytti — cell of the immune system
  • French: phagocyte — cell of the immune system
  • Galician: fagocito — cell of the immune system
  • Georgian: ფაგოციტი (pagociṭi) — cell of the immune system
  • German: Phagozyt — cell of the immune system
  • Hungarian: fagocita — cell of the immune system
  • Hungarian: falósejt — cell of the immune system
  • Italian: fagocita — cell of the immune system
  • Japanese: 食細胞 (shokusaibō) — cell of the immune system
  • Northern Kurdish: hellûşêner — cell of the immune system
  • Northern Kurdish: xaneya hellûşêner — cell of the immune system
  • Portuguese: fagócito — cell of the immune system
  • Romanian: fagocit — cell of the immune system
  • Russian: фагоци́т (fagocít) — cell of the immune system
  • Spanish: fagocito — cell of the immune system
  • Swedish: fagocyt — cell of the immune system
  • Welsh: ffagocyt — cell of the immune system