Word origins

• -crineUsed to form names of acridine derivatives.
• crioconeAn organism or fossil with a crioconic shell, or such a shell itself.
• criophoreA statue or other representation of a person carrying a ram.
• crithomancyDivination by interpreting food, usually bread and grain used in sacrifice.
• critocracyA system of rule by judges.
• crociasOnly used in spotted crocias and grey-crowned crocias (two species of birds in the laughingthrush family, found in Java and Vietnam).
• croconicOf or pertaining to croconic acid or its derivatives.
• crocoseglucose obtained from saffron.
• crocottaA mythical dog-wolf of India or Ethiopia, said to be a deadly enemy of men and dogs and able to imitate the voice of any animal or human.
• cromniomancyDivination by onions or onion sprouts.
• CronianSaturnian; applied to the Arctic Ocean.
• crotaphitePertaining to the temples; temporal.
• -cryptCryptography.
• cryptidineOne of the quinoline bases, obtained from coal tar as an oily liquid, C₁₁H₁₁N.
• crypto-Hidden, invisible.
• cryptogamAny plant that reproduces using spores (rather than seeds), formerly placed in the taxonomic group Cryptogamae, which included ferns, mosses, algae, fungi, lichens and liverworts.
• crystallurgycrystallization
• cteneA band of fused cilia on the bodies of ctenophores, used for locomotion.
• cteniformComb-shaped.
• cteno-comb
• ctetologyThe study of the origin of acquired characteristics.
• CtimeneThe younger sister of Odysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca.
• cumaceanAny small marine crustacean of the order Cumacea, closely related to tanaidaceans.
• cyano-Dark blue-green in colour
• cyanopeA person with fair hair and brown eyes.
• cyanophylliteAn orthorhombic-dipyramidal greenish blue mineral containing aluminum, antimony, copper, hydrogen, and oxygen. A polytype of cualstibite, and discredited for such in 2012.
• cyathiformIn the form of a cup, a little widened at the top.
• cyatholithA kind of coccolith resembling a minute cup widened at the top.
• cyclopiaA congenital abnormality in which the orbits of the eye do not divide to form separate sockets
• cydno longwingHeliconius cydno, a species of brush-footed butterfly.
• cyesisPregnancy.
• cymatogenywarping of the Earth's crust on a massive scale, resulting in domes and basins
• cymeneAny of several isomeric naturally occurring terpenoid hydrocarbons; a constituent of a number of essential oils, most commonly the oil of cumin and thyme.
• cymotrichousHaving wavy hair.
• cynanthropyA delusion in which a person believes he or she is transformed into a dog.
• cynarrhodiumA fruit like that of the rose, consisting of a cup formed of the calyx tube and receptacle, and containing achenes.
• cynodontAny of several small carnivorous synapsids in the clade Cynodontia, ancestral to mammals and extinct close relatives.
• cyphonautesThe larva of an ectoproct or bryozoan.
• cyphosomaticDescribing larvae whose dorsal side is curved while the ventral surface remains straight or flat.
• cyprinodontAny of the Cyprinodontidae, a family of fishes including the killifishes or minnows.
• cyrto-hooked, curved
• cystacanthThe final larval stage of an acanthocephalan, infective to the definitive host.
• cysticercusThe larval stage of any of several tapeworms, having a fluid-filled cyst enclosing a scolex.
• cystocarpA minute vesicle in some seaweeds, containing the reproductive carpospores.
• cytoblastemaThe protoplasm, out of which life was thought to arise.
• cytodeA nonnucleated mass of protoplasm, the supposed simplest form of independent life, differing from the amoeba, in which nuclei are present
• cytoidcell-like; applied to the corpuscles of lymph, blood, chyle, etc.
• cytulaThe fertilized egg cell or parent cell, whose development produces the child or other organism.
• dacrocyteA type of poikilocyte that is shaped like a teardrop.
• dactylectomyThe amputation of a finger.
• dactyliographyThe art of gem engraving.
• dactyliologyThe branch of archaeology dealing with gems or gem engraving.
• dactylitisInflammation of an entire digit (a finger or toe).
• dactylo-digit (finger, thumb, or toe); dactyly.
• dactylocampsisPermanent flexion or bending of one or more fingers or toes.
• dactylomancyDivination by various methods using rings, such as using silver or gold rings placed on the fingernails in patterns in conjunction with the planets.
• dactyloscopyThe forensic analysis and comparison of fingerprints as a means of identification of individuals.
• dactylousFinger-like.
• daphnomancyDivination by laurel branches or trees, leaves etc.
• daseianUsing or relating to a medieval form of musical notation with varying numbers of staves and a system of four shapes rotated to represent eighteen pitches.
• dasy-hairy, shaggy, dense, used in compound words
• dasymeterAn instrument for testing the density of gases, consisting of a thin glass globe, which is weighed in the gas or gases, and then in an atmosphere of known density.
• dasymetricOf or relating to a method of thematic mapping that uses areal symbols to classify volumetric data in a spatial manner.
• dasyproctidAny member of the family Dasyproctidae of agoutis and acouchis
• dasypygalHaving hairy buttocks.
• dasyureAny of various Australasian carnivorous marsupials, of the family Dasyuridae, which include the marsupial equivalent to cats
• datoliteA borosilicate of lime commonly occurring in glassy, greenish crystals, with the chemical formula CaBSiO₄(OH).
• decacanthHaving ten larval hooks.
• decachordAn Ancient Greek musical instrument with ten strings, resembling the harp.
• decadarchySynonym of decarchy.
• decakis-A variant of deca-, used for multiplication with a second numerical prefix
• decarchyA government of ten people, especially (historical) various Greek councils of ten men
• deesisA call to witness.
• degmacyteAn abnormally-shaped red blood cell with one or more semicircular portions removed from the cell margin, resulting from the removal of denatured hemoglobin by macrophages in the spleen.
• Deidamiathe daughter of King Lycomedes of Scyros
• deimaticDesigned to startle or frighten a potential predator.
• deinothereAny of the genus †Deinotherium of large, extinct proboscidean mammals, a relative of modern elephants.
• deipno-Dinner, banquet.
• deipnosophistA master of the art of dining, particularly learned conversation in the manner of Athenaeus's characters.
• dekadarchySynonym of decarchy: rule by ten people.
• deltiologyThe study and collection of postcards.
• deltoidusthe deltoid muscle.
• demarchThe chief magistrate of a deme.
• demo-people
• demogeronMember of a demogerontia.
• demonomagyMagic in which the aid of demons is invoked; black magic.
• demonymA name for an inhabitant or native of a specific place, usually derived from the name of the place.
• demophileA friend of the people.
• demospongeA sponge of the class Demospongiae, having skeletons made of spongin fibers.
• demoticsThe area of knowledge relating to the care and culture of the people; sociology in its broadest sense.
• demotistOne versed in the ancient Egyptian demotic writing.
• dendr-Used to form words concerning trees or branching
• dendrolatryThe worship of trees.
• dendroliteA petrified or fossilised tree, plant, or part of a plant.
• depsi-Knead, make supple.
• deradelphusConjoined twins fused at the thorax and having a single head and neck.
• dermatillomaniaA mental disorder characterized by the urge to pick at one's own skin.
• dermato-Dermal: dermis, but also often, broadly, skin or epidermis.
• dermo-dermal: dermis, but also often, broadly, skin or epidermis.
• desmidAny of about 5000 species of mostly unicellular freshwater green algae belonging to the order Desmidiales.