coccosphere

C3O1C3C3O1S1P3H4E1R1E1

noun

A small rounded marine organism, capable of breaking up into coccoliths.

OriginAncient Greek κόκκος →
Scrabble 22
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nouncoccosphere (plural coccospheres)

plural coccospheres

  1. biologyA small rounded marine organism, capable of breaking up into coccoliths.

    Knappertsbusch et al. (1997) redefined the C. leptoporus morphotype concept of Knappertsbusch (1990) by measureing the coccosphere diameter and mean coccolith diameter of an additional 63 coccospheres.

    2013, Hans R. Thierstein, Jeremy R. Young, Coccolithophores: From Molecular Processes to Global Impact, page 303

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκόκκος“a grain, seed”
  2. Englishcoccosphere

Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos, “a grain, seed”) + -sphere.

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

coccosphere. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coccosphere

MLA

“coccosphere.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coccosphere. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coccosphere,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coccosphere.

Source: coccosphere on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.