Coryne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria commonly found in soil and on skin, some species of which are pathogenic to humans
2. A group of bacterium characterized by irregular, rod-like morphology and often exhibiting metachromatic granules when stained
3. A bacterial genus comprising species that are typically aerobic or facultatively anaerobic rods, sometimes used in industrial and medical contexts

Etymology: In ancient Greek, "korynē" meant a club or mace, a heavy staff with a knobbed head. The word came to be used in biology for a genus of small marine animals, the hydroids, which are relatives of jellyfish and sea anemones. Scientists borrowed the Greek term as a Latinized genus name, so the word now belongs to taxonomy rather than everyday speech. The club image is the key to the name. Many hydroids grow as tiny branching colonies on rocks, seaweed and shells, and some of their feeding structures have swollen, club-like tips, which probably suggested the Greek choice, though the exact reasoning of the namer is uncertain. The same Greek root survives in a more familiar word. "Corynebacterium," the genus that includes the diphtheria bacterium, combines "korynē" with "bacterium," because these bacteria are club-shaped rods.