Word.ws English Dictionary

mitochondria

Syllables: mi·to·chon·dri·a/ˌmaɪ.tə(ʊ)ˈkɒn.dɹi.ə/US/ˌmaɪ.toʊˈkɑn.dɹi.ə/

mitochondria is the plural of mitochondrion.

Meaning of mitochondrion

Noun

mitochondrion (plural mitochondria or (rare, proscribed) mitochondrions)

  1. A spherical or ovoid organelle found in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells and containing genetic material separate from that of the host; it is responsible for the conversion of food to usable energy in the form of ATP.
    • The consideration of the mitochondrion in the spermatocytes I shall pass over, as it is not within the bounds of this paper; yet I hope to study the earlier generations of my material, and shall then compare the results.1902 February, W. J. Baumgartner, “Spermatid Transformations in Gryllus assimilis, with Special Reference to the Nebenkern”, in Kansas University Science Bulletin, volume 1, number 2

Noun

mitochondria (plural mitochondria or mitochondrias)

  1. (proscribed, sometimes) mitochondrion.
    • The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

Forms of mitochondria

pluralmitochondria
pluralmitochondrias

Origin of mitochondria

From mitochondrion + -a.

See above.

Questions about mitochondria

What does mitochondria mean?
Mitochondria means mitochondrion.
What is mitochondria the plural of?
Mitochondria is the plural of mitochondrion.
What part of speech is mitochondria?
Mitochondria is a noun.
How do you pronounce mitochondria?
Mitochondria is pronounced /ˌmaɪ.toʊˈkɑn.dɹi.ə/ (US).
What is the plural of mitochondria?
The plural of mitochondria is mitochondria.

Words near mitochondria in the dictionary

  1. mitoaggresome
  2. mitoaggresomes
  3. mitobiogenesis
  4. mitobronitol
  5. mitocalcin
  6. mitochondria
  7. mitochondrial
  8. mitochondrial DNA
  9. mitochondrial DNAs
  10. Mitochondrial Eve
  11. Mitochondrial Eves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mitochondria (page history and authors); mitochondrion (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.

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

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