# coli

Pronunciation: say "KOH-ly" US /ˈkoʊ.laɪ/, UK /ˈkəʊ.laɪ/

## Noun

1. A Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals.
   - Simple: A common gut germ, often written E. coli, that lives in the intestines of people and animals.
   - _Researchers cultured E. coli from the patient's stool sample._
   - _Most strains of E. coli are harmless, but a few cause severe food poisoning._

## Origin

This is a shortened form of Bacterium coli or Bacillus coli, obsolete scientific names for the species now called Escherichia coli. The word itself comes from Latin colī, the genitive of colon, meaning "colon" or "large intestine".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/coli (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).