The building blocks of English

Affixes

cocci-

Also cocco‑.

A small spherical body.

Greek kokkos, grain or berry.

Most words in cocci‑ derive from one or other of the systematic names for roughly spherical microscopic living things. One is coccidia, a broad term for several types of parasitic protozoa. Coccidioides is a genus of fungus, which has given its name to coccidioidomycosis, a serious infection of the lungs and other tissues, also known as San Joaquin Valley fever. A coccolithophore is a single-celled marine organism with a calcareous shell, whose tiny platelets are called coccoliths.