Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Amoeba |
AmoebaNoun1. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "amoeba" was first used: 1855. (references) |
Etymology: Amoeba \A*m[oe]"ba\, noun; plural Latin Am[oe]b[ae]; English Am[oe]bas. [New Latin expression, from the Greek expression change.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Amoeba n. Humorous term for the Commodore Amiga personal computer. Source: Jargon File. |
Health | A genus of ameboid protozoa. Characteristics include a vesicular nucleus and the formation of several lodopodia, one of which is dominant at a given time. Reproduction occurs asexually by binary fission. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
| Amoeba | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||
|
The word amoeba is a descriptive term for various single-celled organisms which move about by means of temporary projections, called pseudopods. Sometimes the term is used to mean any such organism, here called amoeboids, but most often it applies only to those with blunt (lobose) or tapering (filose) pseudopods. These are found in sluggish waters, fresh and salt, all over the world, as well as in soils and as parasites. They readily make appearances in putrefying infusions, carried aerially, and are generally able to form protective cysts.
When capitalized and italicized, Amoeba refers to a particular genus, of which the best-known species is A. proteus. They are found in freshwater, typically on decaying vegetation from streams, but are not especially common in nature. They are often found in biology labs, however, serving as common objects of study. This stems both from the ease which they may be obtained and kept alive under the microscope, and from their simple demonstration of certain aspects of cellular structure and function, such as fission.
Amoeba may be as large as 700-800 μm in size, though some are much smaller. The cells usually form many lobose pseudopods, including a dominant one which is broader than the others, into which the cell mass flows during locomotion. They ingest smaller organisms which are surrounded by the pseudopods, which then merge together. Each has a single nucleus, and a simple contractile vacuole which maintains its osmotic pressure, as its most recognizable features.
Early naturalists referred to Amoeba as the Proteus animalcule, after a Greek god who could change his shape. The name "amibe" was given to it by Bery St. Vincent, from the Greek amoibe, meaning change.
This text has been taken from a 1911 encyclopedia, and has not fully been integrated yet. Take care!
Among the investigators of protoplasmic movements we may cite F. Dujardin, O. Butschli, L. Rhumbler and H. S. Jennings. The opening to the exterior of the contractile vesicle has been found here. Pelomyxa has yielded to A. E. Dixon and M. Hartog a peptic ferment, such as has been extracted by C. F. W. Krukenberg from the myxomycete Fuligo (Flowers of Tan), which is the largest known naked mass of protoplasm without cellular differentiation.
H. S. Jennings made a full study of the movements of Amoeba, and of its general behaviour, and found therein many indications that these are on the whole such as we should expect of an organism working by "trial and error" rather than the uniform modes of non-living beings. Thus the operations of an amoeba ingesting a round, encysted Euglena are summed up thus: "One seems to see that the amoeba is trying to obtain this cyst for food, that it shows remarkable pertinacity in continuing its attempts to put forth efforts to accomplish this in various ways, and that it shows remarkable pertinacity in continuing its attempts to ingest the food when it meets with difficulties. Indeed the scene could be described in a much more vivid and interesting way by the use of terms still more anthropomorphic in tendency."
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Amoeba."
Synonym: AmoebaSynonym: ameba (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Amoeba |
| English words defined with "amoeba": ameboid, Amoebae, Amoebas, Amoebea, amoeboid, animalcule, animalculum ♦ Cytode ♦ Ectosarc, Endosarc ♦ genus Amoeba, genus Difflugia ♦ Lobosa ♦ Proteiform ♦ sensible, sensitive. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "amoeba": Andrew Tanenbaum ♦ Cytoplasmic Streaming ♦ Naegleria. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Amoeba" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Manx (amoeba). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | There should be a special level of hell for this pus-sucking, gangrenous malignancy of a mental amoeba. (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; writing credit: Ervin Iunapuu) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Ai qing amoeba (1997) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | Douglas Adams | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Therefore, sometimes people are told that they are infected with E. histolytica even though they are not. Entamoeba histolytica and another amoeba, Entamoeba dispar, which is about 10 times more common, look the same when seen under a microscope. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Amoeba" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 86.96% of the time. "Amoeba" is used about 23 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 86.96% | 20 | 78,262 |
| Noun (proper) | 13.04% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 23 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "amoeba": genus Amoeba. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "amoeba": amoeba-like. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
amoeba | 252 | amoeba information | 3 |
amoeba record | 89 | amoeba defense | 2 |
amoeba music | 67 | amoeba cell | 2 |
amoeba proteus | 17 | amoeba hollywood record | 2 |
amoeba picture | 14 | amoeba operating source system vax | 2 |
adios amoeba | 8 | amoeba operating system | 2 |
amoeba organism | 8 | amoeba operativo sistema | 2 |
amoeba flea flea listen man rat rat rat re re than that they they worse | 6 | amoeba francisco san | 2 |
amoeba angeles los record | 3 | amoeba parasite | 2 |
amoeba diagram | 3 | amoeba biology | 2 |
amoeba music store | 3 | amoeba cleansing syndrome | 2 |
amoeba record store | 3 | amoeba pic | 2 |
amoeba anatomy | 3 | amoeba protozoan | 2 |
amoeba francisco record san | 3 | amoeba movement | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "amoeba"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaan | amebe. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | amebë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | على شكل أميبا, الأميبا. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | амеба (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 變形蟲 , 阿米巴 , 变形虫细胞 (Amoebae). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | améba, mìnivka. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | amoebe (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | amoebe (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | amebo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | skaploysingur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | جانورتک سلولی , امیب (Ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | amibe (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | amöbe (am(o)eba, protean). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αμοιβάδα (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | אמב", חלופית. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | amőba, véglény (protozoan). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | amuba. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | ameba (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | アマチュア無線局 (amalgam, amaryllis, amateur radio station, friend, lover), アミロ法 (amnesty, Amnesty International, Amtrak, amylo process, love, young girls who imitate the style of singer Amuro Namie). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | アミーバ , アメーバ . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 아"" (ameban, amebic, amebous, Amoebae, amoeban, amoebic, Amoebous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | amoeba. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | amoebaay ameba (ameba). (various references) amibã. (various references) амеба (ameba, amoebae). (various references) ameba. (various references) ameba (ameba), amiba (ameba). (various references) amöba. (various references) amip (ameba, protean animalcule). (various references) амеба (ameba). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | amoibe. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "amoeba": amoebae, amoeban, amoebas. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "amoeba": endamoeba, entamoeba. (additional references) | |
Words containing "amoeba": endamoebae, endamoebas, entamoebae, entamoebas. (additional references) | |
| |
"Amoeba" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Afolbi, ameaba, amebea, amebia, ameeba, ameoba, amieba, amoba, amobea, amoe, Amoita, Amorbach, Amuzegar, anobe, aoba, aomeba, Macouba, Mvouba, Ongoiba, Ramaema. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "amoeba" (pronounced umē"bu) |
| 3 | -ē" b u | gleba, Rebbe. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-e-m-o" | |
-1 letter: abeam, aboma, ameba. | |
-2 letters: ambo, beam, bema, mabe. | |
-3 letters: aba, abo, ama, baa, bam, boa, mae, moa, mob, obe. | |
-4 letters: aa, ab, ae, am, ba, be, bo, em, ma, me, mo, oe, om. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-b-e-m-o" | |
+1 letter: amoebae, amoeban, amoebas. | |
+2 letters: amoebean, foamable. | |
+3 letters: abominate, endamoeba, entamoeba, gambadoes, steamboat. | |
+4 letters: abominable, abominated, abominates, ameloblast, amoebiases, amoebiasis, comparable, endamoebae, endamoebas, entamoebae, entamoebas, fathomable, hebdomadal, steamboats. | |
+5 letters: abandonment, ameloblasts, amortizable, automatable, balletomane, biomaterial, cabbageworm, commandable, compassable, embarcadero, embarkation, flamboyance, megaloblast, melanoblast, memorabilia, meprobamate. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 6D 6F 65 62 61 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references).- -- --- . -... .- |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01101101 01101111 01100101 01100010 01100001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A m o e b a |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 006D 006F 0065 0062 0061 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)357981716867 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
