cilium
noun
Simple meaning
A hairlike projection from the surface of a cell.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
cheeleeuhmIPA pronunciation (US)
tʃiliəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
cytology
A hairlike projection from the surface of a cell; provides locomotion in free-swimming unicellular organisms
cytology
A short microscopic hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism) which serve either for propulsion by causing currents in the surrounding fluid or as sensors.
entomology
One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.
anatomy
An eyelash.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A hairlike projection from the surface of a cell; provides locomotion in free-swimming unicellular organisms
Used this way, cilium is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.