-bacter

A genus of bacteria.

The first part of English bacterium.

Most such genus names are the province of specialists, spelled by convention with a capital letter: Azotobacter (obsolete azote, nitrogen) a free-living genus of soil bacteria able to fix nitrogen; Enterobacter (Greek enteron, intestine), a genus whose members are commonly found in faeces and sewage. A few have become more widely known and are commonly spelled without an initial capital letter: acetobacter, bacteria that oxidize organic compounds to acetic acid, as in vinegar formation; campylobacter (Greek kampulos, bent), a type of bacterium which sometimes causes abortion in animals and food poisoning in humans.