membrane

Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin membrāna (“skin or membrane that covers parts of the body”), from membrum (“a limb or member of the body”) +‎ -āna. Doublet of membrana.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛm.bɹeɪn/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmbɹeɪn

membrane (plural membranes)

1. (anatomy, zootomy) A flexible enclosing or separating tissue forming a plane or film and separating two environments.

   Hyponyms: aperture membrane, basement membrane, Bruch's membrane, cyclitic membrane, Descemet's membrane, hyaloid membrane, Jacob's membrane, mucous membrane, nictating membrane, nictitating membrane, Reissner's membrane, ruptured membrane, Schneiderian membrane, serous membrane, synovial membrane, tectorial membrane, tympanic membrane, virginal membrane, Zinn's membrane

   1. A mechanical, thin, flat flexible part that can deform or vibrate when excited by an external force.

      Hyponym: single-ply membrane

   2. A flexible or semiflexible covering or waterproofing whose primary function is to exclude water.
      • 2016 January 14, Jessica Hall, “Nanoengineers build 'microcannons' that fire light-up bullets filled with drugs”, in ExtremeTech‎^[1]:

        Then they backed the membrane with a gel matrix containing a perfluorocarbon (PFC) propellant and fluorescent "nanobullets" about a micron wide, and hit it with ultrasound.

   3. (biology) A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.

      Hyponyms: cell membrane, haptogenic membrane, ion-selective membrane, nuclear membrane, plasma membrane

2. A piece of parchment forming part of a roll.

• “membrane”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “membrane”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Borrowed from Latin membrāna.

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃.bʁan/

membrane f (plural membranes)

1. membrane

• “membrane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

membrane f pl

1. plural of membrana

• IPA^(key): /memˈbra.ne/

membrane

1. plural of membrană