Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various slipper-shaped freshwater ciliate protozoans of the genus Paramecium, having an oral groove for feeding.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The typical genus of Parameciidæ; the slipper-animalcules, having a soft flexible cuticle and oblique adoral groove. P. bursarium is an example. Commonly, but wrongly, Paramæcium or Paramœicium.
  • noun [lowercase; pl. paramecia (-ä).] A member of this genus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology An oval-shaped protozoan organism of the genus Paramecium.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any member of the genus Paramecium

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Paramēcium, genus name, from Greek paramēkēs, oblong in shape : para-, alongside; see para– + mēkos, length; see māk- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek παραμήκης (paramēkēs, "oval"), from μῆκος (mēkos, "length").

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