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Glite Dictionary
to encyst

to encyst

9.9
To form a small protective sac around a cell or living thing
  • verb
  • /ɪnˈsɪst/
  • Specialized
translation icon : encistarse
  • During the lifecycle of the parasite, it will encyst in the host's tissues.

Examples

  • It can encyst, Tom.

    The Angry Red Planet (1959)

  • I think it'd be safer if we don't open the knee... ...until the foreign bodies are encysted.

    A Farewell to Arms (1957)

  • Virtually all eggs (which are actually encysted embryos) sold in the United States are A. franciscana and come from the Great Salt Lake in Utah or from the San Francisco Bay area.

    Academic text (1994)

  • A coffee mug, a jade ornament, a metate, a faceted diamond, or the like could stay as it was, encysted in stone, indefinitely.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • In response to stress, the organism will encyst to protect itself from external threats.

  • The bacteria can encyst when food sources become scarce, allowing them to survive in dormant form.

Antonyms

to release
∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

to expose
146 2.8

Make something visible by removing a cover or letting light reach it

How Enclosed

to seal
457 2.5
to encyst
  • Specialized
9.9
to enclose
84 3.7
to cover
∞ 1.0
to surround
∞ 1.7

Surface Forms

encyst infinitive
encysted past
encysted past participle
encysting present participle
encysts third person singular

Morphology

encyst = cyst (transparent) = en + cyst

The verb 'encyst' is transparently derived from 'cyst' with the prefix 'en-' indicating the action of enclosing in a cyst.

Etymology

Encyst comes from en- meaning 'in' and cyst meaning 'bladder' or 'sac', the same cyst you see in medical words. So to encyst is to put something into a small sac or to become enclosed in one.