Sporidian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to a sporidium, a small spore-like cell produced by certain fungi during their reproductive cycle
2. Describing a small fungal cell that buds off from a germinating spore and resembles a simple yeast-like body
3. Of or pertaining to the short-lived, spore-like reproductive units formed by some basidiomycete fungi

Etymology: "Sporidian" is a technical term from mycology, the study of fungi. It is built from "sporidium," a New Latin coinage based on Greek "spora," meaning "seed" or "sowing," which comes from the verb "speirein," "to sow." The ending "-idium" is a diminutive suffix, so a sporidium is a little spore, and "-ian" makes the form an adjective meaning "relating to" such a spore. The word is used to describe the small cells produced by certain fungi, especially some smut and rust fungi, whose spores germinate in ways that differ from more familiar fungal reproduction. Its meaning is therefore narrow, and it does not appear in everyday English. Its parts are all transparent, so the term is best read as a deliberate scientific formation rather than a word that drifted into use over centuries.