petri-

1. variant of petro- ¹ before elements of Latin origin:

   petrifaction.

Example Sentences

Petri announced in the spring that he would retire after his current term.

From The Daily Beast

It remains the receptive petri dish to any and all sorts of colonies of humanity that finally managed to find one another.

From The Daily Beast

If one or both ran, it would likely help Petri by splitting the conservative vote in a primary.

From The Daily Beast

Observers think Grothman would be well-positioned in a Republican primary, provided the 73-year-old Petri even runs.

From The Daily Beast

Tom Petri is an institution in Wisconsin politics but the 35-year-veteran of Capitol Hill faces a tough path to re-election.

From The Daily Beast

Petri dish or cleaned photographic plates for sputum examination.

From Project Gutenberg

These petri dishes, so called after their inventor, are the traps in which we collect and study bacteria.

From Project Gutenberg

Place three sterile Petri dishes in a row on the surface of the glass plate and number them 1, 2, and 3, from left to right.

From Project Gutenberg

Pour each tube into a separate Petri dish and allow it to solidify.

From Project Gutenberg

Transfer each slice of egg by means of a pair of sterilised forceps to a Petri dish or large capsule.

From Project Gutenberg

Words That Use petri-

What does petri- mean?

Petri– is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “rock” or “stone.” It is very occasionally used in scientific terms.

Petri– comes from Greek pétra, meaning “rock.” Two Latin translations of pétra are lapis and saxum, both meaning “stone,” which are the roots of terms such as lapis lazuli and saxifrage, respectively. To learn more, check out our entries for both words.

What are variants of petri-?

When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, petri– becomes petr–, as in petrous, from the Latin equivalent of the form. Another variant of petri– is petro–. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles on petr– and petro-.

Examples of petri-

An example of a word you may have encountered that features petri– is
petrify, “to convert into stone or a stony substance.” Petrify comes from Middle French petrifier, which features the equivalent of the form petri– in that language.

As we know, petri– means “rock,” while the –fy suffix means “to make,” from Latin –ficāre. Petrify literally translates to “to make [into] rock.”

What are some words that use the combining form petri-?

• petrifaction
• petrified

What are some other forms that petri– may be commonly confused with?

• per-
• peri-
• peta-
• pro-

Not every word that begins with the exact letters petri-, such as petri dish, is necessarily using the combining form petri– to denote “rock.” Learn why petri dish means “a glass dish for culturing bacteria” at our entry for the term.

Break it down!

The suffix –faction means “a making.” With this in mind, what does petrifaction literally mean?