A small fringe, border, or fringed structure, especially a tiny hair-like extension on bacterial cells or protozoans used for movement or attachment.
Diminutive form of Latin fimbria, literally meaning 'little fringe.' This term became crucial in microbiology to describe the fine appendages visible only under microscopes on bacterial and protozoan cells.
Bacteria are basically tiny living things with tiny fringes called fimbrillae—when scientists needed a word for microscopic hairlike structures, they borrowed the Latin word for 'fringe' and made it even smaller!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.