low-cell-density
|low-cell-den-si-ty|
🇺🇸
/loʊ sɛl ˈdɛnsɪti/
🇬🇧
/ləʊ sɛl ˈdɛnsɪti/
few cells per unit
Etymology
'low-cell-density' originates from Modern English, specifically the words 'low', 'cell', and 'density'. 'low' (Modern English) denotes 'not high/less', 'cell' (Modern English) derives from Latin 'cella' meaning 'a small room' and later 'a biological cell', and 'density' (Modern English) comes from Latin 'densitas' meaning 'thickness or compactness'.
'low' comes from Old English words (e.g. 'hlēow' / 'hlāw') meaning 'not high' or 'low'; 'cell' developed from Latin 'cella' (via Old French) meaning 'small room' and was extended in modern usage to biological 'cell'; 'density' entered English via Latin 'densitas' through Old French/Medieval Latin to mean 'thickness' or 'compactness'. These parts combined in modern English to form the compound 'low-cell-density'.
Initially, the component words meant 'not high' ('low'), 'small room' or 'compartment' ('cell'), and 'thickness/compactness' ('density'); over time their senses broadened (especially 'cell' to the biological sense and 'density' to 'number per unit'), and the compound now specifically means 'a low number of biological cells per unit volume or area'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
having a relatively small number of cells per unit volume or unit area (e.g., of a culture, tissue sample, or region).
The experiment failed to produce the expected results because the culture was maintained at a low-cell-density state.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/06 09:29