Cell

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /sɛl/

Definitions

1. The smallest structural and functional unit in living beings ; a small enclosed room used to hold prisoners or monks ; a single electrochemical unit in a battery or device that stores and releases energy ; a fundamental unit or group within an organization or system
2. A microscopic building block of all living organisms ; a confined space for detaining individuals or for solitary use in religious communities ; the individual component of a battery that generates electrical power ; a basic subdivision or unit forming part of a larger group or system
3. The minimal living unit that composes plants and animals ; a secured, typically small room designed for confinement or solitude ; one segment of a battery responsible for electrical charge ; a distinct subgroup or compartment within a larger collective

Etymology: Before it meant a phone or a prison room, "cell" was a plain word for a small chamber. It comes from Latin "cella", meaning chamber or storeroom, and that Latin word goes back to a Proto-Italic root meaning to cover or conceal, so the original idea was a hidden or enclosed space. Old English had its own word for it, but the Latin one, reinforced by Old French, won out in Middle English. The biological sense followed from the same idea. When English speakers first looked at tissue under early microscopes, the tiny compartments they saw reminded them of small rooms, and the word was applied to them. The prison sense is the older sense of the family, tied to the monastic and confined meaning of a small room. The meaning of "cell" as a telephone is a shortened form of "cell phone", itself a clipping of "cellular phone", where "cellular" refers to the network divided into small geographic areas called cells. The battery sense and the organizational sense are later extensions of the same picture of a small, self-contained unit.

Synonyms: compartment, room, chamber

Antonyms: whole