The bacteria are so small that they are ____ and can only be seen with a strong lens.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Dust contains millions of ____ particles that can cause serious irritation to people with sensitive allergies or breathing problems.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?
Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós)
Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti
Proto-Hellenic *sképťomai
Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai)
Proto-Indo-European *-ós
Proto-Hellenic *-ós
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Ancient Greek -ος (-os)influ.
Ancient Greek -ός (-ós)
Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós)
Proto-Indo-European *-eti
Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti
Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Ancient Greek -έω (-éō)
Ancient Greek σκοπέω (skopéō)
Proto-Indo-European *-yós
Proto-Italic *-ios
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ium
Latin mīcroscopiumlbor.
Italian microscopiobor.
English microscope
Proto-Indo-European *-ikos
Proto-Italic *-ikos
Latin -icuslbor.
Old French -iquebor.
Middle English -ik
English -ic
English microscopic
From microscope + -ic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only."
— 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
"... the notion of the microscopic was often used in the foundations of quantum theory right from the start, to indicate the realm in which quantum theory is required in order to explain phenomena when classical theory cannot do so; quantum theory was generally considered in those years to apply only to situations involving atoms and smaller “microscopic” entities..."
— 2014 September, Gregg Jaeger, “What in the (quantum) world is macroscopic?”, in American Journal of Physics, volume 82, number 9, pages 896–905:
"Why has not man a microscopic eye?"
— 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC: