epigeic

E1P3I1G2E1I1C3

adjective

Living on the surface of the land.

OriginFrench épigé ← Ancient Greek ἐπίγειος →
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Meanings

adjectiveepigeic (not comparable)

alternative epigaeic

  1. not comparableLiving on the surface of the land.

    Our large dataset on epigaeic ant abundances is complemented by a second, smaller dataset of 24 published studies on arboreal ant abundances.

    2022 September 19, Schultheiss et al., “The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, page 1, column 1
  2. not comparableLiving in the topsoil and depositing wormcasts on the surface.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἐπίγειος“terrestrial”
  2. Frenchépigé
  3. Englishepigeic

From French épigé + -ic. Épigé, first applied in the context of earthworms by Marcel Bouché (see anecic), is from Ancient Greek ἐπίγειος (epígeios, “terrestrial”).

More words from French, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French épigé
  • épigéTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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