non-flagellate
|non-flag-el-late|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈflædʒəleɪt/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈflædʒəleɪt/
lacking a whip-like appendage (flagellum)
Etymology
'non-flagellate' originates from English, formed from the prefix 'non-' and the adjective 'flagellate', where 'non-' meant 'not' and 'flagellate' ultimately comes from Latin 'flagellum' meaning 'whip'.
'flagellate' changed from Latin 'flagellatus' (past participle of 'flagellare') and from the noun 'flagellum' in Classical Latin; it entered scientific English from Late Latin/Scientific Latin and eventually combined with the negative prefix 'non-' in modern English to form 'non-flagellate'.
Originally the Latin root meant 'whip' (a physical whip) and 'to whip'; in biological usage 'flagellate' came to mean 'having a whip-like appendage (a flagellum)', and 'non-flagellate' has come to mean 'lacking that appendage'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
(noun use) An organism that lacks flagella; a non-flagellated organism.
The biologist identified the specimen as a non-flagellate.
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Adjective 1
not having flagella; lacking one or more whip-like appendages (used especially in biology).
The species is non-flagellate and moves using cilia instead.
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Last updated: 2025/12/07 02:02