Etymology

microfauna

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Today it means: The smallest of the faunal size divisions, including mainly microorganisms but also sometimes applied to the tiniest species of animal groups such as ticks, insects, etc. Full definition →

English fauna ← Ancient Greek μῑκρο- (mīkro-) ← Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
  2. Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
  3. Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
  4. Englishmicro-
  5. Englishfauna
  6. English todaymicrofauna

From micro- (“small, tiny”) + fauna (“animals”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.