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

See Examples For:

E. coli

Warm, still water holds less oxygen, creating the conditions in which botulism thrives and speeding up the growth of E. coli.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

To study the process directly in people, the researchers gave healthy volunteers a tiny injection of UV-killed E. coli bacteria in the forearm.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

An outbreak of E. coli and salmonella linked to alfalfa sprouts has sickened dozens of people across 15 states, public-health officials said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

We’ve had water treatment failures, chemical imbalances brought on by malfunction, E. coli contamination, and the people of Flint, Michigan, of course, appreciate the criticality of clean water better than anyone in the country.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

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

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee