Plural of flagellum
irregular plural
The plural of flagellum is flagella or flagellums.
Forms of flagellum
| Singular | flagellum /fləˈd͡ʒɛləm/ |
|---|---|
| Plural | flagella flagellums |
| Countable | countable |
Less standard forms: flagellae (proscribed).
Flagella and flagellums in a sentence
- Structures such as flagella, scales, and exoskeleta also have to be reallocated or copied.2009, Klement Tockner, Gene E[lden] Likens, editors, Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, Academic Press, →ISBN. From the entry exoskeleton
- At first, all he sees is a harmless-looking blob, a microscopic single-cell organism sporting a couple of whiskery flagella.2017 April 3, Stephanie Zacharek, “In Life, the blob from Mars is small and very scary”, in Time. From the entry whiskery
- The pelta supports the wall of the anterior region of the cell and the flagellar canal from which the flagella emerges.2010, W. de Souza, Structures and Organelles in Pathogenic Protists, page 16. From the entry pelta
- Thus, large systems such as viruses, multienzyme complexes, cell-cytoskeleta and flagella are usually constructed from multiple copies of the same protein.1981, Leonardo, volume 14, page 311. From the entry cytoskeleton
- It consists in a phosphorely in which phosphorylation of CheY by CheA results in the interaction of CheY with the flagellar rotor and changes in flagella rotation.2015 July 11, “Chemotactic Motility of Pseudomonas fluorescens F113 under Aerobic and Denitrification Conditions”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry phosphorely
Meaning of flagellum
- noun In protists, a long, whiplike membrane-enclosed organelle used for locomotion or feeding.
- noun In bacteria, a long, whiplike proteinaceous appendage, used for locomotion.
- noun A whip.
Nouns ending in -um: plural -a
- minimum (minima)
- medium (media)
- maximum (maxima)
- spectrum (spectra)
- curriculum (curricula)
- referendum (referenda)
- millennium (millennia)
- consortium (consortia)
- podium (podia)
- aquarium (aquaria)
- optimum (optima)
- gymnasium (gymnasia)
Questions about the plural of flagellum
- What is the plural of flagellum?
- The plural of flagellum is flagella or flagellums.
- Which is correct, flagella or flagellums?
- Both are used. flagella is the more common of the two in English writing.
- Is flagellum countable?
- Flagellum is a countable noun.
- Is flagellae correct?
- flagellae is marked proscribed in Wiktionary. The usual plural of flagellum is flagella or flagellums.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flagellum (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Plural of flagellum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plural/flagellum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.