Dermatophytic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A category of fungi that primarily colonizes and infects skin, hair, and nails, often causing ailments like athlete's foot
2. Referring to fungi that inhabit keratin-rich tissues and lead to superficial infections in both humans and animals
3. Pertaining to fungi that specifically infect keratinized tissues such as skin, hair, and nails

Etymology: "Dermatophytic" is a plain technical formation: it combines "dermatophyte," itself a modern scientific coinage, with the adjectival suffix "-ic." The "-ic" ending turns a noun into a descriptive term, so the word means "relating to dermatophytes." The first element, "dermato-," comes from Greek "derma," meaning skin, and the second, "-phyte," comes from Greek "phyton," meaning plant. Put together, "dermatophyte" literally means "skin plant," a name that reflects the early classification of these organisms with plants, even though fungi are now placed in their own kingdom. The word belongs to the vocabulary of medical mycology, the study of fungi that cause disease. It is used to describe the fungi that colonize keratin, the tough protein that makes up skin, hair, and nails, and the conditions they cause, such as ringworm.