Affixes

This is an Anglicized form of ‑oma and usually indicates some part of a plant having a given nature. Unlike that ending it indicates a normal part of the organism. A rhizome (Greek rhiza, root) is a continuously growing horizontal underground stem which puts out lateral shoots at intervals; a trichome (Greek trikhoun, cover with hair) is a small hair or other outgrowth from the epidermis of a plant; a phyllome (Greek phullon, leaf) is a part of a plant that is regarded as a modified leaf. In ecology, a biome (Greek bios, life) is a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat.

However, genome, the complete set of genetic material present in a cell or organism, derives from a blend of gene and chromosome (Greek sōma, body). A couple of terms have been formed on its model: proteome, the complete set of proteins produced from the instructions coded in a cell's genetic material, and metabolome (from metabolism), the complete set of metabolic processes within a cell. These seem to have been created partly by blending and partly by analogy with the older sense of the ending.