What’s the Plural of Bacterium?
rogersgeorge on December 20th, 2020
Okay, “bacterium” is the word for a single bacterial cell. “Bacteria” is the general term for a bunch of those cells, especially if you’re referring to one species, but the word can apply to more than one species, too.
But what if you’re referring to more than one individual cell of bacteria? Here are a couple sentences that made me wonder:
There’s a Reason Why Bacterias Can’t Be Fat or Skinny
https://interestingengineering.com/theres-a-reason-why-bacterias-cant-be-fat-or-skinny
Bacterias are seemingly the same size wherever you go. While there are exceptions that vary in size from 1 to 10 micrometers (µm), most bacterias fall somewhere between 0.5 to 2 µm.
My spell checker even flagged it.
I suppose it’s correct. Maybe “bacteriums.” What do you think?
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