-ˈspīrə noun
Etymology: New Latin, from lept- + Latin spira coil, twist — more at spire (spiral, curl)
1. capitalized : a genus of extremely slender aerobic spirochetes (family Treponemataceae) free-living or parasitic in mammals that includes a number of important pathogens (as L. icterohaemorrhagiae of Weil's disease or L. canicola of canicola fever)
2. plural leptospira “ also leptospiras -rəz or leptospi·rae -ˌrē : any spirochete of the genus Leptospira