cyanobacterium

cyanobacterium

English

Etymology

From cyano- +‎ bacterium.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəm

Noun

cyanobacterium (plural cyanobacteria)

1. (biology) Any of very many photosynthetic prokaryotic microorganisms, of phylum Cyanobacteria, once known as blue-green algae.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 262:

     At some point in the first billion years of life, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, learned to tap into a freely available resource – the hydrogen that exists in spectacular abundance in water.

   • 2011, Terence Allen and Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2011, p. 91:

     Photosynthesis was established some billion years ago by ancient bacterial precursors of modern cyanobacteria.

Synonyms

• blue-green alga

Hypernyms

• bacterium

Translations

prokaryotic microorganism of phylum Cyanobacteria

Catalan: cianobacteri m Czech: sinice (cs) f Finnish: syanobakteeri French: cyanobactérie (fr) m Galician: cianobacteria f German: Cyanobacterium n Greek: κυανοβακτήριο (el) n (kyanovaktírio) Italian: cianobatterio (it) m, cianoficea f Portuguese: cianobactéria f Spanish: cianobacteria f Thai: สาหร่ายสีเขียวแกมน้ำเงิน (sǎa-ràai-sǐi-kǐao-gɛɛm-nám-ngən) Vietnamese: vi khuẩn lam

See also

• Cyanobacteria