pilus

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pilus

/ˈpaɪ̯.ləs/ Canada, US, UK
/ˈpʌɪ̯.ləs/ Canada, US, UK
/ˈpɑe̯.ləs/ Australia, New Zealand
/ˈpʌi̯.ləs/ Scotland
/ˈpəi̯-/ Scotland
/-lʌs/ Scotland
/ˈpəj.lus/ India
/ˈpɑːj.lus/ India

Rhymes with -aɪləs

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin pilus (“hair”). Doublet of pile.

noun pili

A hair.
A hairlike appendage found on the cell surface of many bacteria.
Similar: fimbria
A bacterial protein that has several biochemical functions.

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MLA

"pilus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pilus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pilus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pilus

Chicago

"pilus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pilus.

BibTeX

@misc{pilus_2026,
  title = {pilus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pilus},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}