phage

noun (a phage, phages); short for bacteriophage

«phage» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

Everyday

(science) A tiny virus that attacks and kills bacteria, not people. tree →
(fragment) A word ending meaning "eater", as in "macrophage" (a white blood cell that eats germs). tree →

In the lessons

In science and medicine, phages look like tiny space landers; they inject their genes into bacteria. Doctors are testing phage therapy to fight bacteria that antibiotics cannot kill. The ending "-phage" means "eat" in Greek.

Examples

A phage is a virus that infects bacteria. tree →
Phages look like tiny moon landers. tree →
Scientists use phages to fight resistant bacteria. tree →
Phages are harmless to human cells. tree →
A macrophage is a white blood cell that eats germs. tree →
There are more phages on Earth than stars in the sky, scientists estimate. tree →

Note

Countable. Pronounced "FAYJ". Full name: bacteriophage. Related Greek words: -phagy, sarcophagus (originally "flesh-eater"). It is a science word, not everyday English.

On Mova

Trees and pragmatics of «phage» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
«phage» in the school dictionary on Mova free.

This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/phage/