noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A cell of the immune system, such as a neutrophil, macrophage or dendritic cell, that engulfs and destroys viruses, bacteria and waste materials, or in the case of mature dendritic cells; displays antigens from invading pathogens to cells of the lymphoid lineage.
2. 2
   a cell that engulfs and digests debris and invading microorganisms wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To phagocytize transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

antibodyantigenbloodblood bankbloodmobilebloodstream

Etymology

Etymology 1

From the German Phagocyt, modified on the pattern of -cyte; phago- + -cyte.

Etymology 2

Either from the noun or from the French phagocyter.

Related phrases

dendritic cellimmune systemlymphoid lineage

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.