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Glite Dictionary
🦠 A tiny cell hair 👁️ An eyelash
cilium

cilium

9.9
A tiny hair on certain cells that moves fluid or helps the cell move
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪliəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cilio
  • Damage to the cilium can lead to respiratory issues as it is crucial for clearing particles from the airways.

We have to force it through this gauntlet of turbinates and mucosa and cilia and all of these different structures.

Examples

  • It does this by damaging the cilia, tiny hair like structures whose job it is to keep the Airways clean.

  • The primary cilium is involved in several cell functions and pathways.

    Academic text (2015)

  • The rest goes on to make a kind of a round thing with lots of cilia sticking out.

  • The cilium is the main area of the sonic hedgehog pathway in the neural tube and the limb buds, which explains the craniofacial and limb features of OFD-I patients.

    Academic text (2015)

  • The tiny cilium on the surface of the cell helps move fluid across its membrane.

  • In many protozoa, the cilium acts like a propeller, allowing them to swim through water.

Surface Forms

cilium singular
cilia plural

Etymology

Cilium comes from a Latin word that meant 'eyelash'. Scientists called the tiny hair on cells a cilium because it looks and acts like a tiny 'eyelash' that sweeps away fluid and helps the cell move.