Es el proceso por el cual ciertas células y organismos unicelulares capturan y digleren partículas nocivas o alimento, tiene gran importancia en la defensa contra las
enfermedades infecciosas" nos referimos a:​

Phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phagein) 'to eat', and κύτος, (kytos) 'cell') is the process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 m), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs phagocytosis is called a phagocyte.