Etymology

pneumococcus

pneu·mo·coc·cus
P3N1E1U1M3O1C3O1C3C3U1S1

Today it means: A gram-positive bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae, that causes pneumonia and other infectious diseases. Full definition →

English coccus ← New Latin coccu ← Latin coccum
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*plew-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pléwmō
  3. Ancient Greekπλεύμων (pleúmōn)
  4. Ancient Greekπνέω (pnéō)influ.
  5. Ancient Greekπνεῦμα (pneûma)influ.
  6. Ancient Greekπνεύμων (pneúmōn)
  7. Englishpneumo-
  8. Ancient Greekκόκκος (kókkos)
  9. Latincoccum
  10. New Latincoccu
  11. Englishcoccus
  12. English todaypneumococcus

From pneumo- + -coccus. First attested in 1885.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.