spiro-

¹

1. a combining form meaning “respiration,” used in the formation of compound words.

   spirograph.

spiro-

²

especially before a vowel, spir-

1. a combining form meaning “coil,” “spiral,” used in the formation of compound words.

   spirochete.

spiro-

¹

combining form

1. indicating breath or respiration

   spirograph

spiro-

²

combining form

1. spiral; coil

   spirochaete

Word History and Origins

Origin of spiro-¹

Combining form of Latin spīrāre “to breathe”

Origin of spiro-²

Combining form of Latin spīra, from Greek speîra “coil”

Word History and Origins

Origin of spiro-¹

from Latin spīrāre to breathe

Origin of spiro-²

from Latin spīra, from Greek speira a coil

Example Sentences

There’s also Voltaire’s “Candide”; Charlie Chaplin’s capitalist critique, “Monsieur Verdoux”; Walt Kelly’s comic strip, “Pogo,” with its animalizations of Joseph McCarthy and Spiro Agnew; humorists Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer and Beyond the Fringe; Mad magazine, the Onion, and on and on.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

That changed in 2023 when Dr. Thu-Thuy Dang and her team in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science identified the first plant enzyme capable of twisting a molecule into the distinctive spiro shape.

Read more on Science Daily

“The suggestion that the financials are in any way improper is false and defamatory,” said Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Elon Musk.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He also said he spoke with Jenner-Kardashian attorney Alex Spiro, who allegedly asked him “crazy questions,” including whether he spoke to “feds.”

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In public, he relied on his vice president, Spiro Agnew, to slam the networks as part of an irresponsibly hostile liberal “unelected elite” with “vast power.”

Read more on Salon