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Definition of petri

petri

/ˈpiː.tɹi/
pe · tri
Plural:petris
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petri Lexical Profile

petri Game Scores & Validity

• noun

1

A shallow, cylindrical glass or plastic lidded dish used by biologists to culture cells or microorganisms; a Petri dish (used chiefly attributively).

Example

"The lab technician carefully placed the agar-filled petri dish into the incubator to culture the bacterial sample."

Synonyms
View all synonyms for petri

Word Nuance & Usage

Almost exclusively used attributively in the compound term 'Petri dish' (or lowercase 'petri dish') rather than as a standalone noun.

• Rhymes for petri

• Nearby Words

petnapping
petrea
petrel
petri
petrichor
petrification
petrified

Word Origin & Etymology

Named after Julius Richard Petri (1852–1921), a German bacteriologist who invented the standard cylindrical culture dish in 1887 while working as an assistant to Robert Koch.

Usage Trend

Historical frequency of usage in published text.

180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer

Cite this Entry

Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Petri. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/petri
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