-mēsh(ē)]əm, -mēsē] noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek paramēkēs oblong (from para- para- (I) + mēkos length) + New Latin -ium; akin to Greek makros long, tall — more at meager
1. capitalized : a genus of holotrichous ciliates having the body elongate and bluntly rounded at the anterior end and having an oblique funnel-shaped buccal groove on the oral surface with the mouth at the extremity
2. plural parame·cia ]ə\ or parameciums : a protozoan of the genus Paramecium