multicellular

Everyday

Made of many cells. Living things like animals, plants and most fungi are multicellular. tree →

In the lessons

A science word: in biology, living things are sorted into single-celled (unicellular), like bacteria, and multicellular, like humans, trees and mushrooms. In multicellular living things, different cells do different jobs (muscle cells, nerve cells, leaf cells).

Examples

• Humans are multicellular organisms with trillions of cells. tree →
• A bacterium is single-celled, but a frog is multicellular. tree →
• Plants and animals are multicellular. tree →
• In multicellular life, cells share out the jobs. tree →
• Some seaweeds are multicellular and some are tiny single cells. tree →
• The first multicellular living things appeared long after bacteria. tree →
• Is a mushroom multicellular? Yes, it is made of many cells. tree →

Note

Opposite: "unicellular" or "single-celled". Prefix "multi-" means "many". Pronounced "mul-tee-SELL-yoo-lar". Adjective only.