Cellular

How to spell cellular

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cellular

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cellular mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, consisting of, or resembling the small cells that make up living tissue or other structures.
2. adjectiveRelating to the system of mobile telephones that connect through a network divided into small geographic cells.

Cellular in a sentence

• The drug works at the cellular level to repair damaged tissue.

• The remote cabin had no cellular coverage at all.

• The foam insulation has a fine cellular structure that traps air.

• She switched off the cellular data to save battery on the flight.

Where does cellular come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Cellular goes back to the Latin cella, which meant a small room, storeroom, or chamber, the same word that gives us 'cell' and 'cellar'. Scientists adopted the diminutive form cellula, 'a little chamber', and from it the New Latin adjective cellularis was coined in the 1700s to describe things made up of tiny compartments. English took it as 'cellular' to describe living tissue once microscopes revealed that organisms are built from countless little cells. In the late twentieth century the word leapt into telecommunications, because a mobile network divides its coverage area into many small zones called cells, each served by its own transmitter. The spelling trap is the single 'l' in the second syllable and the doubled 'll' in the first: it follows 'cell' plus '-ular', not a doubled 'l' throughout.

How the word is built

• cell (small room or compartment, from Latin cella)
• -ular (adjective suffix meaning 'relating to')