microbe

CEFRC1

/ˈmaɪkɹəʊb/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
A very small living thing, often causing disease.
02
noun
Extra detail
Any microorganism; (loosely, nonscientifically) especially, a harmful bacterium.

Examples

The man is also a stubborn microbe.
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.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Also pronounced

Deep Dive

In context

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.

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Question 1 · Quick check

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The word in print, with each source given in full.

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

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Borrowed from French microbe, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) and βίος (bíos, “life”). By surface analysis, micro- + -obe.