Biology vocabulary · Laboratory Work and Techniques
Petri dish
Meaning in biology, with examples
/ˈpiːtri ˌdɪʃ/nounCommon term
In biology, petri dish means: A shallow, round, clear dish with a lid, used to grow microorganisms or cells on a layer of agar or another culture medium.
In Turkish: petri kabı, petri kutusu
How it is used
Named after the German bacteriologist Julius Petri. Lab staff often just say 'plate': an agar plate, to plate out bacteria, a contaminated plate. Plates are usually incubated upside down so that condensation does not drip onto the agar.
Example sentences
Pour the warm agar into each petri dish and let it set.
After two days, small white colonies appeared on the petri dishes.
Common collocations
agar plate
pour a plate
plate out
sterile petri dish
bacterial colony
Related terms
cultureA population of microorganisms or cells grown in the lab in a nutrient medium under controlled conditions. As a verb, it means to grow them in this way.
aseptic techniqueA set of working methods that stop unwanted microorganisms from contaminating cultures, samples, equipment or the person doing the work.
incubateTo keep samples, cultures or eggs at a controlled temperature, and sometimes humidity or gas level, for a set time so that growth or a reaction can take place.
bacteriaSingle-celled microorganisms without a nucleus that live almost everywhere, from soil and water to the human gut. Most are harmless or useful; some cause disease.
