microbe
nounUK /ˈmaɪkɹəʊb/ · US /ˈmaɪkɹoʊb/
Etymology Borrowed from French microbe, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) and βίος (bíos, “life”). By surface analysis, micro- + -obe.
1
Biology, Microbiology, Natural sciences Any microorganism; (loosely, nonscientifically) especially, a harmful bacterium.
- We humans and other complex animals are full of microbes, gajillions of them. People have so many that microbe cells living in our bodies outnumber our own vastly.2015 March 13, Ben Brumfield, “You may be your germs: Microbe genes slipped into human DNA, study says”, in CNN, archived from the original on 13 Jan 2018:
- Yes, there are microbes everywhere and most are just fine for us, perhaps even beneficial to our microbiomes and immune systems. We don’t care about those.2019 October 7, Sandee LaMotte, “The germiest place in your home and the best way to combat those microbes”, in CNN, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2023:
- Derived terms
- antimicrobe, microbeless, microbial, microbian, microbic, microbicide, microbiosis, microbism, microbivore, microbivorous, mimivirus, nanobe, pseudomicrobe, radiobe, supermicrobe
- Related terms
- microorganism