Membrane

How to spell membrane

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce membrane

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does membrane mean?

1. nounA thin, flexible sheet of tissue or material that lines, covers, or separates structures, often allowing some substances to pass through.

Membrane in a sentence

• The ear infection caused the thin membrane to rupture.

• The water filter works by forcing liquid through a fine membrane.

Where does membrane come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin membrana, which meant the skin that covers a body part and, by extension, the fine parchment made from animal skin used for writing. That noun was built on membrum, meaning a limb or member of the body, so a membrana was literally the thin tissue that wraps and encloses something. English borrowed the word in the early 1400s, at first to describe the delicate layers of tissue inside plants and animals. As anatomy and later cell biology advanced, the meaning broadened to any thin pliable sheet, including the synthetic films used in engineering and filtration. The same membrum root still survives in the everyday word 'member', and the 'mem' opening, two m sounds close together, is the part writers most often slip on.

How the word is built

• membr- (from Latin membrum: limb, member)
• -ane (forming a noun for a covering layer)