Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Spirillum minus

Spirillum minus

9.9
A bacterium that causes rat-bite fever in people after a bite from a rat or mouse
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Spirillum minus
  • Rat-bite fever can be caused by the bacterium Spirillum minus when transmitted through a rodent bite.

Examples

  • Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of Spirillum minus as the source of the illness.

  • The Spirillum minus bacterium is dangerous.

  • Doctors identified Spirillum minus in the blood sample of the infected patient.

  • Is Spirillum minus harmful to humans?

  • Doctors identified Spirillum minus in the blood sample of the infected patient.

  • Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of Spirillum minus as the cause of rat-bite fever.

  • Rat-bite fever can occur when a person is infected with the bacterium Spirillum minus from a rodent bite.

Synonyms

ratbite fever bacterium
vsSpirillum minus
  • Specialized
7.9

A germ that makes you have a fever after a rat bites you

is a specific bacterial species causing that disease in humans

Surface Forms

Spirillum minus singular
Spirillum minuses plural

Morphology

Spirillum + minus

As a Latin binomial name, a B1 learner who knows 'spirillum' can infer that this refers to a spiral-shaped bacterium species, so part of the meaning (that it is a bacterium/species) is compositional. However, the specific link to rat-bite fever (and the role of 'minus' in the name) is arbitrary and not derivable from the constituents, so the full meaning is not predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Spirillum minus comes from Latin words: spirillum means 'spiral' and minus means 'smaller'. The name describes a tiny spiral-shaped bacterium, which is why doctors use it for the germ that causes rat-bite fever.