flagella

[fluh-jel-uh] /fləˈdʒɛl ə/

noun

a plural of flagellum.

flagellum

[fluh-jel-uh m] /fləˈdʒɛl əm/

noun, plural flagella

[fluh-jel-uh] /fləˈdʒɛl ə/ (Show IPA), flagellums.

Biology. a long, lashlike appendage serving as an organ of locomotion in protozoa, sperm cells, etc.

Botany. a runner.

Also called clavola. Entomology. (in an antenna) the whiplike portion above the basal joints.

a whip or lash.

Origin

1800-10; < Latin: whip, lash, diminutive of flagrum a whip, scourge

Examples from the web for flagella

Intelligent design mavens once cited flagella as evidence of their theory.
Charged ions flow across the membrane, which makes the cell's flagella move.
Choanocytes use these filaments, called flagella, to paddle water past themselves.
Both upper and lower surfaces bear flagella that the creature uses to swim around.
And they have tiny flagella to help them move from source to source, cleaning up toxics as they go.
Bacteria may have cell walls on the surface of their cell membranes, and may have evolved cilia or flagella for locomotion.
flagella usually occur one per organism whereas cilia are present as many, many per cell.

British Dictionary definitions for flagella

flagellum

/fləˈdʒɛləm/

noun (pl) -la (-lə), -lums

(biology) a long whiplike outgrowth from a cell that acts as an organ of locomotion: occurs in some protozoans, gametes, spores, etc

(botany) a long thin supple shoot or runner

(zoology) the terminal whiplike part of an arthropod's appendage, esp of the antenna of many insects

Derived Forms

flagellar, adjective

Word Origin

C19: from Latin: a little whip, from flagrum a whip, lash

Word Origin and History for flagella

flagellum

1852, in reference to microbes, from Latin flagellum "whip, scourge," diminutive of flagrum "whip," from PIE root *bhlag- "to strike."

flagella in Medicine

flagellum fla·gel·lum (flə-jěl'əm)
n. pl. fla·gel·la (-jěl'ə)
A threadlike appendage, especially a whiplike extension of certain cells or organisms that functions as an organ of locomotion.

fla·gel'lar (-jěl'ər) adj.

flagella in Science

flagellum

(flə-jěl'əm)
Plural flagella
A slender whiplike part extending from some single-celled organisms, such as the dinoflagellates, that moves rapidly back and forth to impart movement to the organism.