E. coli

American  

[ee koh-lahy] / ˈi ˈkoʊ laɪ /

noun

Bacteriology.

1. Escherichia coli: a species of rod-shaped, facultatively anaerobic bacteria in the large intestine of humans and other animals, sometimes pathogenic.

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E. coli British  

/ ˌiːˈkəʊlaɪ /

noun

1. short for Escherichia coli; see Escherichia

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E. coli Scientific  

/ ēkō′lī /

1. A bacillus (Escherichia coli) normally found in the human gastrointestinal tract and occurring in numerous strains, some of which are responsible for diarrheal diseases. Other strains have important experimental uses in molecular biology.

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Etymology

Origin of E. coli

See Escherichia coli ( def. )

Example Sentences

The FDA has long warned against consuming raw, unpasteurized milk, citing risks of dangerous bacteria such as salmonella, listeria and E. coli that can lead to severe illness or, in rare cases, death.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

“Even within the food program, food chemical issues have largely taken a backseat to more traditional food safety issues, like food pathogens, E. coli and foodborne illness outbreaks.”

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

In the first study, researcher Navish Wadhwa and his team found that salmonella and E. coli can migrate across moist surfaces even when their flagella are disabled.

From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026

The company’s U.S. performance last quarter also benefited from comparisons with the previous year’s period, when the chain was grappling with an E. coli outbreak that depressed sales.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

Rather than consuming both sugars equally, the E. coli cells had selectively consumed glucose first.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee