What does pipet mean?
A pipet is a slender laboratory instrument used to measure and transfer small quantities of liquid. Its narrow tip allows a user to draw up a precise volume and dispense it into a test tube, culture vessel, or another container. Many pipets are graduated, while others use a bulb and piston mechanism to deliver a specific volume more accurately. The term is chiefly associated with American English; British English normally uses "pipette," although both spellings occur in scientific publishing. In everyday speech, "pipet" may refer to a simple graduated tube, but laboratory contexts can also use it more broadly for adjustable micropipets and other precision dispensing instruments. Its spelling reflects the abbreviated American form of the longer word, whose French origin combines the familiar idea of a tube with the sense of a small or diminutive one.
nounA slender, graduated tube used to measure and transfer small quantities of liquid. It is chiefly used in laboratories and is the common US spelling of the British word "pipette."
- A narrow tube, usually graduated or fitted with a bulb and a fine tip, used to measure, transfer, or dispense small amounts of liquid.
"The technician used a micropipet to transfer twenty microlitres of the solution."
"She drew the dye into the pipet before adding it to the test tube."
"Each sample was transferred with a sterile disposable pipet."
The standard plural adds -s.
"The laboratory ordered a box of sterile pipets."
French pipette means “little pipe,” a fitting description for one of the laboratory's most familiar tools.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does pipet come from?
The word entered English in the early 19th century from French pipette, a diminutive of pipe meaning a small tube or dropper. The suffix -ette forms the diminutive in French. English subsequently developed "pipet" as a common American spelling, while "pipette" remained standard in British English. Both belong to the same word family as pipe and pipeline.
Related word forms
How pipet is actually used
The spelling is most common in American English. Outside North America, "pipette" is normally preferred, especially in laboratory and educational contexts.
Easily confused with pipet
"Pipette" is the standard spelling in British English and is also used in US technical writing, while "pipet" is the usual US spelling.