filament

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
filament /ˈfɪləm(ə)nt/

▶noun

• 1 a slender thread-like object or fibre, especially one found in animal or plant structures.

• 2 a metal wire in an electric light bulb, made incandescent by an electric current.

• 3 Botany the slender part of a stamen that supports the anther.

– derivatives
filamentary adjective,
filamented adjective,
filamentous adjective.

– origin C16: from Fr., or from mod. L. filamentum, from late L. filare ‘to spin’.