Main Entry: ba·cil·lus

Pronunciation: \bə-ˈsi-ləs\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural ba·cil·li \-ˌlī also -lē\

Etymology: New Latin, from Medieval Latin, small staff, rod, diminutive of Latin baculus staff, alteration of baculum

Date: circa 1879

1 : any of a genus (Bacillus) of rod-shaped gram-positive usually aerobic bacteria producing endospores and including many saprophytes and some parasites (as B. anthracis of anthrax); broadly : a straight rod-shaped bacterium
2 : bacterium; especially : a disease-producing bacterium