Filament

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

Media

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

Physics and engineering

 * Electrical filament, The thin wire in an electrical bulb that produces enough heat to give out light.
 * Heater filament, a thin heating element in a vacuum tube
 * Current filament, a current restricted to a small part of the conducting medium
 * Filament propagation, diffractionless propagation of a light beam
 * 3D printing filament, used as raw material in 3D printing