saprophyte

American  

[sap-ruh-fahyt] / ˈsæp rəˌfaɪt /

noun

1. any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.

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saprophyte British  

/ ˈsæprəʊˌfaɪt, ˌsæprəʊˈfɪtɪk /

noun

1. any plant that lives and feeds on dead organic matter using mycorrhizal fungi associated with its roots; a saprotrophic plant

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saprophyte Scientific  

/ săp′rə-fīt′ /

1. An organism, especially a fungus or bacterium, that lives on and gets its nourishment from dead organisms or decaying organic material. Saprophytes recycle organic material in the soil, breaking it down into in simpler compounds that can be taken up by other organisms.

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Other Word Forms

• saprophytic adjective
• saprophytically adverb

Etymology

Origin of saprophyte

First recorded in 1870–75; sapro- + -phyte

Example Sentences

It is a parasite or saprophyte, and entirely destitute of chlorophyll, being pure white throughout.

From Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany For High Schools and Elementary College Courses by Campbell, Douglas Houghton

The fermentative saprophyte is as absolutely essential to the setting up of destructive rotting or putrescence in a putrescible fluid as the torula is to the setting up of alcoholic fermentation in a saccharine fluid.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888 by Various

Tuckahoe, tuk′a-hō, n. an edible but tasteless underground fungus growing as a saprophyte on the roots of the trees in the southern United States—also called Indian bread.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various