Parasitologists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Scientists who study organisms that live on or in a host and cause harm
2. Experts who research parasitic organisms and their interactions with hosts
3. Researchers focused on the biology, life cycles, and effects of parasites on other species

Etymology: Parasitologists are, literally, people who study parasites, and the path to that name runs through an ancient Greek word for a dinner guest. In ancient Greece, a "parasitos" was someone who ate at another man's table, a sponger who earned his meal by flattery or entertainment. The Greek elements are "para," meaning beside, and "sitos," meaning grain or food, so the sense was "one who eats beside" someone else's food. Latin borrowed the word as "parasitus," and it reached English through Middle French "parasite" with its freeloading sense intact for centuries. The biological meaning came later. English "parasite" was first used for an organism living on or in another, and the science of such organisms was named "parasitology" by combining that noun with the Greek suffix "-logy," "study of." The "-ologist" ending then names the person who practises that study. The word thus keeps its ancient Greek meat-and-table ancestry while describing scientists who investigate creatures that feed off other living things.