Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 18, Number 8—August 2012
Etymologia

Etymologia: Pseudomonas

Cite This Article

Pseudomonas [soo′′do-mo′nəs]

From the Greek pseudo (“false”) + monas (“unit”). In 1894, German botanist Walter Migula coined the term Pseudomonas for a genus he described as, “Cells with polar organs of motility. Formation of spores occurs in some species, but it is rare.” Migula never clarified the etymology of the term. However, the description of Pseudomonas as “false unit” does not make much sense, and an alternative explanation posits that Migula “had not traced directly the Greek ancestry of the name, but had simply created the name Pseudomonas for the resemblance of the cells to those of the nanoflagellate Monas in both size and active motility.” Monas was coined by Danish naturist Otto Friedrich Müller in 1773 to describe a genus of “infusoria” characterized as “vermis inconspicuous, simplicissimus, pellucidus, punctiformis” (“inconspicuous worm, simple, transparent, tiny”).

Pseudomonas aeruginosa [adj. fem. of aerūginōsus] from Latin aerūgō (“copper rust or verdigris,” hence green) +‎ -ōsus (added to a noun to form an adjective indicating an abundance of that noun) is named for the greenish-blue color of bacterial colonies. The organism has emerged as one of the most serious causes of nosocomial infections.

Top

References

  1. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 32nd ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders; 2012.
  2. Magnin A, Sternberg GM. The bacteria. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; 1880.
  3. Palleroni NJ. The Pseudomonas story.Environ Microbiol. 2010;12:137783. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Pier GB, Ramphal R. Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, editors. Principles and practices of infectious diseases, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone; 2010. p. 2835–60.

Top

Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid1808.et1808

Related Links

Top

Table of Contents – Volume 18, Number 8—August 2012

EID Search Options
presentation_01 Advanced Article Search – Search articles by author and/or keyword.
presentation_01 Articles by Country Search – Search articles by the topic country.
presentation_01 Article Type Search – Search articles by article type and issue.

Top

Page created: October 19, 2012
Page updated: October 19, 2012
Page reviewed: October 19, 2012
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external