plastic jar/container

is what I see here, not a can

Dang it, dude beat me yet again :-)) Will go ahead and add my link, anyway :-)

http://www.google.de/search?tbm=isch&hl=de&so...

plastic bottle

a bottle is a bottle if it has a (bottle) neck, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

plastic container or cup with a screw-on lid if it's of the variety the nurse hands you in the doctor's office for a certain type of sample.

(Dude, aren't jars usually glass?)

@dude, Carly-AE:
plastic jar seems to be exactly what a was looking for. Thank you!

specimen container
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Biopsy+conta...

biopsy container
http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en...

@Bob: check out Carly's link. :-)

dude, that's a German Web site. Here's an American one:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jar...

M-W seems to have to have got its definition from the OED (as I suspect it frequently does):

"JAR: A vessel of earthenware, stoneware, or glass, without spout or handle (or having two handles), usually more or less cylindrical in form. Orig. used only in its eastern sense of a large earthen vessel for holding water, oil, wine, etc."

Now, I'm not going to bother with a google search, because there is, no doubt, no end of people who say "plastic jar" (and no doubt "plastic box," "plastic tub," "plastic can," "plastic vessel," etc. as well). I wish only to confirm the traditional and most usual meaning of the word jar.

Bob, "Traditionally," glass was invented long before plastic. Then about 40? years ago, the packaging industry started packing products in plastic jars/bottles.

edit: Here's a link to an American company that sells plastic and glass jars. http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/P2.html

edit II: marsu, They also have a site for lab products. Perhaps your "Plastikgefäß" is featured: :-) http://www.sks-science.com/

@Bob: Carly used the German google (google.de), but many of the individual web sites listed on google.de are, in fact US sites.

Excerpt from their laboratory site:

Laboratory jars are available in a wide variety of glass and plastic style for many lab applications. From clear glass laboratory jars to PET, styrene and polypropylene plastic jars, SKS Science offers many jars with an array of caps to suit your laboratory needs.

Well, this is useful clarification. Nevertheless, I find it jarring.

At my next annual physical I'll ask the nurse (and the doctor) what she calls it. Get back to you long about June.