phage

«phage» in Mova's school dictionary: A tiny virus that attacks and kills bacteria, not people — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a phage, phages); short for bacteriophage

meaning for a pupil

1) (science) A tiny virus that attacks and kills bacteria, not people. tree →

2) (fragment) A word ending meaning "eater", as in "macrophage" (a white blood cell that eats germs). tree →

sense 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.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «phage» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.