Probiotic

noun; adjective

/ˌprəʊbaɪˈɒtɪk/

A live microorganism — typically a bacterium such as Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium — that, when consumed in adequate amounts, confers a health benefit on the host by supporting gut flora.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

India's persistent burden of malnutrition and gut-related morbidity has prompted public-health experts to advocate the integration of affordable probiotic foods, such as traditional fermented preparations, into nutrition schemes as a low-cost, culturally rooted intervention.

Synonyms

beneficial bacteriagut-friendly culturelive culturemicrobioticfriendly flora

Antonyms

antibioticantimicrobialpathogen

🌱 Word Family

probiotic (adj/n), probiotics (n plural), prebiotic (n/adj), antibiotic (n/adj)

🔡 Root

Latin pro- = for/in favour of; Greek biōtikos = pertaining to life (from bios = life); coined 1950s

📜 Etymology

From pro- (for, in favour of, from Latin) + biotic (from Greek biōtikos, pertaining to life); first used in the 1950s as the conceptual opposite of antibiotic.

🧠 Memory Hook

PRO ("for") + BIOTIC ("life") = "for life" — the opposite of ANTI-biotic, which works against microbial life; probiotics are the friendly microbes that work for your life.

⚗️ General Science 📖 Seen in: Microorganisms, Immunology & Vaccines

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