Membranes

How to spell membranes

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce membranes

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does membranes mean?

1. nounThin, pliable sheets of tissue or material that line, cover, or separate structures, or that allow selected substances to pass through.

Membranes in a sentence

• The mucous membranes inside the nose swell up during a heavy cold.

• The filtration unit uses two fine membranes to trap impurities in the water.

Where does membranes come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin membrana, which literally meant 'skin' or 'the thin layer covering an organ', and by extension came to mean the prepared animal skin used for writing, namely parchment. That noun was built on membrum, meaning 'limb' or 'member of the body', so the original idea was the fine sheet of tissue wrapped around a bodily part. English took the singular 'membrane' in the early 1500s, at first in anatomical and medical contexts to describe the pliable layers lining and separating body structures. From there the sense broadened to any thin, flexible sheet, including the artificial barriers used in filtration and waterproofing. The spelling stays close to the Latin, which is why the silent linking 'b' sits comfortably between 'mem' and 'brane' and why the word is built on the same root as 'member'.

How the word is built

• membran- (from Latin membrana: skin, parchment)
• -es (plural marker)