paramecium

American  

[par-uh-mee-shee-uhm, -shuhm, -see-uhm] / ˌpær əˈmi ʃi əm, -ʃəm, -si əm /

noun

paramecia plural

1. any ciliated freshwater protozoan of the genus Paramecium, having an oval body and a long, deep oral groove.

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paramecium British  

/ ˌpærəˈmiːsɪəm /

noun

1. any freshwater protozoan of the genus Paramecium, having an oval body covered with cilia and a ventral ciliated groove for feeding: phylum Ciliophora (ciliates)

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paramecium Scientific  

/ păr′ə-mē′sē-əm /

paramecia plural

1. Any of various freshwater protozoans of the genus Paramecium that are usually oval in shape and that move by means of cilia. Although they consist of a single cell, paramecia are large enough to be visible to the naked eye. Like other ciliates, paramecia contain two nuclei, a macronucleus and a micronucleus. On the cellular surface is a groove that opens into a gullet, into which food particles are absorbed.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• paramecia
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paramecium

1745–55; < New Latin < Greek paramḗk ( ēs ) oblong, oval + New Latin -ium noun suffix; see -ium

Compare meaning

How does paramecium compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• amoeba vs. paramecium

Explanation

Paramecium is a zoological term for a teeny creature that's part of the genus Paramecium. Any paramecium will have an oblong form and be unicellular. That's how small a paramecium is: it only consists of one cell. To look at a paramecium, you'd better have a powerful microscope. The shape of a paramecium has been compared to a slipper or other type of shoe. Paramecia — that's the plural form — are found in freshwater and feed on other extremely small organisms.

Example Sentences

Each is a rectangle about 300 micrometers long and 200 micrometers wide, roughly the size of a paramecium.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 7, 2024

The problems that the intelligence of a paramecium faces are very different from your problems or mine.

From Salon • Dec. 6, 2021

The book takes us from the clumsy inquisitiveness of an upstart paramecium searching for food several hundred million years ago to the restless seeking that propelled big-brained Homo sapiens into the space age.

From Nature • Jan. 27, 2020

Others are covered in rows or tufts of tiny cilia that they coordinately beat to swim—typically paramecium.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Fadi felt like a hairy single-celled paramecium, immobilized under a microscope, squashed between two plates of glass.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai