spor(o)- Also spori-.
A spore.
[Greek spora, spore.]
An organism that produces spores is said to be sporogenous (Greek genos, a kind) or sporiferous (Latin -fer, producing); a sporophore (Greek phorēsis, being carried) is the spore-bearing structure of a fungus; a sporangium (Greek angeion, vessel) is a receptacle in which asexual spores are formed, for example in fungi, algae, mosses, and ferns; A sporicide is a substance used to kill spores. Sporadic does not belong in this set, as it derives instead from Greek speirein, to sow.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.