Word.ws English Dictionary

cell wall

UK/sɛl wɔːl//sɛl wɔːl/

cell wall noun: a rigid, non-living structural layer located outside the cell membrane in certain cells, such as those of plants, fungi, bacteria, and some algae, providing support, shape, and protection.

cell wall: a rigid, non-living structural layer located outside the cell membrane in certain cells, such as...
Image: Thomas Dreps, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cell wall (plural cell walls)

  1. A rigid, non-living structural layer located outside the cell membrane in certain cells, such as those of plants, fungi, bacteria, and some algae, providing support, shape, and protection.
    • The name of Chlamydomonas is applied to certain microscopic green bodies, each of which consists of a protoplasmic central substance invested by a structureless sac. The latter contains cellulose, as in ordinary plants; and the chlorophyll which gives the green colour enables the Chlamydomonas to...1876, T. H. Huxley, “On the Border Territory between the Animal and the Vegetable Kingdoms”, in Littell's Living Age, vol. 128, no. 1657
    • The structural distinctiveness of the cell—in plants especially—is dues in large part to the presence of an outer layer, or coat, the cell wall, which in plants is usually firm, and often hard and thick; in animals, delicate or lacking.1947, Arthur J. Eames, Laurence H. MacDaniels, An Introduction to Plant Anatomy, 2nd edition

cell wall meaning in Tamil, Tagalog and Vietnamese

cell wall in Tamil

செல் சுவர், செல்சுவர் நுண்ணறைச் சுவர், கலச்சுவர்

cell wall in Tagalog

thick layer around cells of plants, fungi, and algae
dinding ng sihay

cell wall in Vietnamese

thick layer around cells of plants, fungi, and algae
vách tế bào, thành tế bào

Forms of cell wall

pluralcell walls
alternative form (rare)cell-wall

Questions about cell wall

What does cell wall mean?
Cell wall means a rigid, non-living structural layer located outside the cell membrane in certain cells, such as those of plants, fungi, bacteria, and some algae, providing support, shape, and protection.
What is cell wall in Tamil?
Cell wall in Tamil is செல் சுவர், செல்சுவர் நுண்ணறைச் சுவர், கலச்சுவர். See Cell wall meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is cell wall?
Cell wall is a noun.
How do you pronounce cell wall?
Cell wall is pronounced /sɛl wɔːl/ (UK).
What is the plural of cell wall?
The plural of cell wall is cell walls.

Words near cell wall in the dictionary

  1. cell tower
  2. cell towers
  3. cell type
  4. cell types
  5. cell up
  6. cell wall
  7. cell walls
  8. cell yell
  9. cell-adhesion molecule
  10. cell-adhesion molecules
  11. cell-cell junction

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cell wall (page history and authors); cell wall (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-cell wall.wav.

Cite this entry: “cell wall.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cell_wall. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.