Definition of cell

The word "cell" in biology has its origin in Latin. The Latin term "cella" means "small room" or "hut." This refers to the original concept of cells as small, enclosed compartments within living organisms. The term was later adopted into Middle English and has been used to describe the fundamental units of life since the 17th century. The concept of cells as we know it today, however, was first described by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch scientist, in the 1670s. He used the term "animalcules" to describe the tiny, single-celled organisms he observed under his microscope. In the 1830s, Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann independently developed the cell theory, which states that all living organisms are composed of cells and that cells are the basic structural and functional units of life. Since then, the term "cell" has become the standard term used in biology to describe these fundamental units of life.