vesicle

/ˈvɛsəkəl/

Other forms: vesicles

A vesicle is a tiny cavity or sac in an animal, even a human animal. Vesicles are like bladders or blisters, and they usually hold fluid. They’re really small.

Vesicle is from the Latin word vesicular for “bladder or blister.” A vesicle is like a little bladder, because it's a fluid-filled sac in an animal, like little organic bags of liquid. The other key element of a vesicle is that it's small — vesicles tend to be extremely tiny. They’re so small, that some are inside cells, as membrane-bound spheres that are separate from the surrounding cytoplasm. That’s tiny!

Definitions of vesicle

1. noun

   a small anatomically normal sac or bladderlike structure (especially one containing fluid)
   synonyms: cyst

   types:

   dacryocyst, lacrimal sac, tear sac

   either of the two dilated ends of the lacrimal ducts at the nasal ends of the eyes that fill with tears secreted by the lacrimal glands

   Golgi apparatus, Golgi body, Golgi complex, dictyosome

   a netlike structure in the cytoplasm of animal cells (especially in those cells that produce secretions)

   bleb, blister, bulla

   (pathology) an elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid

   follicle

   any small spherical group of cells containing a cavity

   liposome

   an artificially made microscopic vesicle into which nucleic acids can be packaged; used in molecular biology as a transducing vector

   hair follicle

   a small tubular cavity containing the root of a hair; small muscles and sebaceous glands are associated with them

   Graafian follicle

   a vascular body in a mammalian ovary enclosing a developing egg

   water blister

   blister containing a nonpurulent clear watery content

   blood blister

   blister containing blood or bloody serum usually caused by an injury

   pustule

   a small inflamed elevation of skin containing pus; a blister filled with pus

   type of:

   sac

   a structure resembling a bag in an animal