GC: n

S: http://www.lifetechnologies.com/es/en/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/cell-lines.html (last access: 31 July 2015); http://www.lgcstandards-atcc.org/Products/Cells%20and%20Microorganisms/Cell%20Lines.aspx?geo_country=es (last access: 31 July 2015).

N: 1. cell (n): early 12c., “small monastery, subordinate monastery” (from Medieval Latin in this sense), later “small room for a monk or a nun in a monastic establishment; a hermit’s dwelling” (c. 1300), from Latin cella “small room, store room, hut,” related to Latin celare “to hide, conceal.” Sense of monastic rooms extended to prison rooms (1722). Used in 14c., figuratively, of brain “compartments;” used in biology by 17c. of various cavities (wood structure, segments of fruit, bee combs), gradually focusing to the modern sense of “basic structure of living organisms” (which Oxford English Dictionary dates to 1845).
line (n): a Middle English merger of Old English line “cable, rope; series, row, row of letters; rule, direction,” and Old French ligne “guideline, cord, string; lineage, descent” (12c.), both from Latin linea “linen thread, string, plumb-line,” also “a mark, bound, limit, goal; line of descent,” short for linea restis “linen cord,” and similar phrases, from fem. of lineus (adj.) “of linen,” from linum “linen”.
2. It arises from a cell strain when some cells become altered; their morphology changes, they grow faster, and they are able to start a culture from only a few cells. This is a general term applied to a defined population of cells which has been maintained in a culture for an extended period and which has usually undergone a spontaneous process of transformation.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cell+line (last access: 17 November 2016). 2. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 31 July 2015).

SYN: cellular lineage

S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 31 July 2015)

CR: cell strain, stem cell.