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Spori- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “spore.” Spore can have a variety of meanings, but in biology, it is used to refer to small organisms such as seeds or germ cells.

Spori- ultimately comes from the Greek ����ǰ�á, meaning “sowing” or “seed.” Sporadic, meaning “occasional,” comes from the related Greek ����ǰ����徱��ó��. Find out what sporadic has to do with seeds at our entry.

What are variants of spori-?

Spori- is a variant of sporo-, which loses its –o- when combined with words or word elements of Latin origin.

When combined with words or word elements of Latin origin, spori- becomes spor-, as in sporont. When used at the end of a word, as a suffix, spor- becomes -spore, as in teliospore.

A related adjectival form is -sporous, which means “having spores” or, literally, “full of spores.”

Want to know more? Read our �y��vlogs That Use articles for spor-, sporo–, -spore, and -sporous.

One example of a scientific term featuring spori- is sporicide, “an encysted spore developed from a zygote.”

The form spori- means “spore,” as we have seen, while the -cide portion of the word means “killer,” ultimately from Latin caedere, “to kill.” Sporicide literally translates to “spore killer.”

What are some words that use the combining form spori-?

• sporicidal
• sporiferous

What are some other forms that spori- may be commonly confused with?

• spermo-
• sphero-
• spiro-
• spleno-
• spongio-

The combining form -ferous has various meanings, including “bearing.” With this in mind, what does the scientific term sporiferous mean in everyday language?