phagocyte

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪɡəsaɪt/

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

phagocyte (plural phagocytes)

1. (cytology) 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.

Either from the noun or from the French phagocyter.

phagocyte (third-person singular simple present phagocytes, present participle phagocyting, simple past and past participle phagocyted)

1. (transitive) To phagocytize

• phagocytation

• “phagocyte”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “phagocyte”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “phagocyte”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

• Homophones: phagocytent, phagocytes

phagocyte

1. inflection of phagocyter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative