sporozoite

See also: sporozoïte

English

Etymology

From translingual Sporozoa + -ite.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /spɒɹəˈzəʊʌɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

sporozoite (plural sporozoites)

1. (cytology) Any of the minute active bodies into which a sporozoan divides just before it infects a new host cell.
   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 453:

     Ross […] was then able to outline its history within the mosquito: first, as a zygote in the stomach; then as an oocyst in the stomach wall; and finally as a mature sporozoite that reaches first the proboscis and then a human host when the insect bites and squirts its saliva prior to sucking blood.

Derived terms

• circumsporozoite
• sporozoitic

References

• “sporozoite”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.