Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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cirr(o)-

A tuft, curl, or tendril.

[Latin cirrus, a tuft or curl.]

Cirrus is the meteorological term for those very high, wispy clouds also called mare's tails; cirrocumulus (Latin cumulus, a heap) is a broken layer of high cloud, and cirrostratus (Latin stratus, strewn) a thin, high layer of hazy cloud. Cirrus is also a term in zoology or botany for a tendril, so the form can refer to this, as in cirrose, bearing tendrils. However, cirrhosis, a disease of the liver, comes instead from the Greek kirrhos, tawny, from its colour when affected.

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