plasmodium

American  

[plaz-moh-dee-uhm] / plæzˈmoʊ di əm /

noun

plural

plasmodia

1. Biology. an ameboid, multinucleate mass or sheet of cytoplasm characteristic of some stages of organisms, as of myxomycetes or slime molds.

2. any parasitic protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, causing malaria in humans.

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plasmodium British  

/ plæzˈməʊdɪəm /

noun

1. an amoeboid mass of protoplasm, containing many nuclei: a stage in the life cycle of certain organisms, esp the nonreproductive stage of the slime moulds

2. any parasitic sporozoan protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, such as P. falciparum and P. vivax, which cause malaria

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plasmodium Scientific  

/ plăz-mō′dē-əm /

plural

plasmodia

1. A mass of protoplasm having many cell nuclei but not divided into separate cells. It is formed by the combination of many amoeba-like cells and is characteristic of the active, feeding phase of certain slime molds.

2. Any of various single-celled organisms (called protozoans) that exist as parasites in vertebrate animals, one of which causes malaria.

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Other Word Forms

• plasmodial adjective

Etymology

Origin of plasmodium

From New Latin, dating back to 1870–75; plasm-, -ode ¹, -ium

Example Sentences

The working group also discovered that the autofluorescent artemisinin-coumarin hybrids are able to destroy a certain drug-resistant malaria pathogen called plasmodium palcifarum.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2023

The RTS,S vaccine targets the one that is most deadly and most common in Africa: plasmodium falciparum.

From BBC • Oct. 6, 2021

Gates wants to see the plasmodium at Appomattox.

From Washington Post • Sep. 28, 2015

Scientists at GlaxoSmithKline began working in 1987 on a vaccine that targeted the most severe of the four strains of malaria, plasmodium falciparum.

From US News • Aug. 14, 2015

The substance of the plasmodium has about the consistency of the white of an egg; is slippery to the touch, tasteless, and odorless.

From The North American Slime-Moulds A Descriptive List of All Species of Myxomycetes Hitherto Reported from the Continent of North America, with Notes on Some Extra-Limital Species by MacBride, Thomas H. (Thomas Huston)