Extracellular

How to spell extracellular

13 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce extracellular

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does extracellular mean?

1. adjectiveLocated or occurring outside a cell or cells, as opposed to inside them.

Extracellular in a sentence

• The researchers measured the extracellular fluid surrounding the tissue.

• Calcium ions move between the extracellular space and the inside of the cell.

Where does extracellular come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a modern scientific term assembled from Latin parts, of the kind biologists coined as cell theory developed in the nineteenth century. The prefix extra- means 'outside' or 'beyond', the same element seen in words like 'extraordinary' and 'external'. The core comes from the Latin cellula, a diminutive of cella, which literally meant 'small room' or 'storeroom' and later gave us 'cell'; the diminutive form survives in the spelling as the double 'l' followed by 'ul'. The closing -ar is an adjective suffix meaning 'relating to', as in 'cellular' and 'circular'. Put together, extracellular describes whatever lies outside a cell, contrasted with intracellular, which describes what is inside; the parallel pair makes the prefix the key thing to keep straight. The trap in spelling is the run of letters in the middle, since 'cellul' carries a doubled l and is easy to shorten by mistake.

How the word is built

• extra- (outside)
• cellul (little cell, from Latin cellula)
• -ar (adjective suffix)