Etymology

streptococcus

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Today it means: A spherical, gram-positive bacterium of the genus Streptococcus. Although commonly found benignly in the human mouth and gut, and though many species are non-pathogenic, other species can cause diseases including strep throat and more serious conditions. Full definition →

Ancient Greek στρεπτός
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromστρεπτός“twisted, pliant”
  2. English todaystreptococcus

Morphologically a compound of strepto- + -coccus. They grow in chains or pairs, thus the name — from Ancient Greek στρεπτός (streptós, “twisted, pliant”), like a chain. Compare the genus name Streptococcus.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekστρεπτός all →

strepto-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.