vermi-

A worm.

[Latin vermis, worm.]

Something vermiform resembles or has the form of a worm (as in vermiform appendix, the full name for the human appendix). A vermicide (Latin caedere, kill) is a substance that kills worms; a vermifuge (Latin fugare, cause to flee) is a medicine that kills intestinal parasitic worms; vermiculture is the cultivation of earthworms.

Several terms have figurative links: vermicelli is the Italian name for pasta made in long slender threads; the mineral called vermiculite comes from Latin vermiculari, full of worms, because on heating it expands and throws out what look like small worms; the dye called vermilion (Latin vermiculus, a small worm) was originally produced from the dried bodies of an insect, mistakenly thought to be a worm.

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