A genus of branching bacteria that form filaments, sometimes found in water and soil.
From Greek 'klados' (branch) + 'thrix' (hair, filament). Named by microbiologists in the 1800s to describe bacteria with branching threadlike structures.
Before we had electron microscopes, scientists could barely see these bacteria, but the word itself tells the story—'branching hair'—which is exactly what they look like under early microscopes.
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