The word filament, which is descended from Latin filum meaning "thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including:

Astronomy

  • Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe
  • Solar filament, a solar prominence seen against the disc of the sun

Biology

  • Myofilament, filaments of myofibrils constructed from proteins
  • Protein filament, a long chain of protein subunits, such as those found in hair or muscle
  • Part of a stamen, the male part of a flower
  • Hypha, a thread-like cell in fungi and Actinobacteria
  • Filamentation, an elongation of individual bacterial cells

Textiles

  • Filament fiber, fiber that comes in a continuous long length
  • Filament yarn, as opposed to spun yarn

Arts and entertainment

  • Filament (band), a musical group from Japan
  • Filament (film), a 2002 movie by Japanese director Jinsei Tsuji
  • Filament (magazine), a female-oriented erotica magazine
  • Filament Games, a Wisconsin-based educational video game developer
  • Filament Productions, a production design and touring video company

Physics and engineering

  • Electrical filament of incandescent light bulb
  • Heater filament of a vacuum tube
  • Current filament, an inhomogeneity in current flow
  • Filament propagation, diffractionless propagation of a light beam
  • LED filament, a light-emitting diode string, which resembles an incandescent light bulb filament
  • 3D printing filament, printer raw material

See also

  • Monofilament (disambiguation)