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• coccus
  coccus

  noun

  a spherical bacterium.
• -coccus
  -coccus

  a combining form representing coccus in compound words.

coccus

¹ American  

[kok-uhs] / ˈkɒk əs /

noun

• cocci
  plural

1. Bacteriology. a spherical bacterium.

2. Botany. one of the carpels of a schizocarp.

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-coccus ² American  

1. a combining form representing coccus in compound words.

   streptococcus.

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coccus British  

/ ˈkɒkəs /

noun

1. any spherical or nearly spherical bacterium, such as a staphylococcus Compare bacillus spirillum

2. the part of a fruit that contains one seed and separates from the whole fruit at maturity

3. any of the scale insects of the genus Coccus

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coccus Scientific  

/ kŏk′əs /

• cocci
  plural

1. Any of various bacteria having a round or ovoid form such as streptococcus or staphylococcus, usually grouped in chains.

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Usage

What does -coccus mean? The combining form -coccus is used like a suffix meaning “coccus.” Coccus is a scientific term with two meanings. In terms from bacteriology, it means "spherical bacterium." In terms from botany, it refers to the mericarp, one segment of a schizocarp, a kind of fruit. The form -coccus comes from Greek kókkos, meaning “grain, seed, or berry.” The Latin equivalent of kókkos is grānum, “grain” or “seed,” which is the source of words such as grain, granite, and granular. Discover more at our entry for each word. What are variants of -coccus?While -coccus doesn't have any variants, it is related to the form -coccal, as in streptococcal. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article for -coccal.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• coccal
  adjective
• coccic
  adjective
• coccoid
  adjective
• coccous
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cocci
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of coccus

1755–65; < New Latin < Greek kókkos grain, seed, berry

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coccus cocci

Each insect, known as Dactylopius coccus, must be bred to a larvae stage and “planted” on a previously wounded cactus pad, and then left for months to feed and mature.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023

Its use raised objections by vegans and vegetarians because it comes from the Dactylopius coccus, a small white insect gives a vibrant red color when crushed.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 4, 2013

Boiled and ground masses of female cochineal bugs, Dactylopius coccus, whose fat contains the dye.

From Time Magazine Archive

From some unknown cause, the Winter Majetin apple enjoys the great advantage of not being infested by the coccus.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) by Charles Darwin

Thallus orbicular, 3–6´´ broad, covered by the clustered inflated involucres, which are nearly 1´´ long, 3–4 times the length of the capsule; coccus 102–127 µ wide, indistinctly lobed.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

Like COVID-19, people infected with cocci can have extremely different symptoms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2022

Part a: The micrograph shows ball-shaped cocci about 0.9 microns long.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Note that bacterial shape is not phylum-dependent; bacteria within a phylum may be cocci, rod-shaped, or spiral.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

In 2011, those prisons, Avenal and Pleasant Valley, produced 535 of the 640 reported inmate cocci cases, and throughout the system, yearly costs for hospitalization for cocci exceed $23 million.

From New York Times ● Jul. 5, 2013

Essaulow found in keffir grains six different organisms—yeast cells, cocci, short thick bacilli, bent bacilli, long threads, and motile bacteria.

From The Bacillus of Long Life a manual of the preparation and souring of milk for dietary purposes, together with and historical account of the use of fermente by Loudon Douglas

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