Sporulate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To produce spores as a means of reproduction in certain organisms
2. to undergo a process through which cells develop into spores for survival
3. to engage in the formation of reproductive structures that ensure the continuation of a species

Etymology: Sporulate is a plain formation built from two English pieces: "sporule," a small spore, plus the verb-forming suffix "-ate." The suffix comes from Latin "-atus" through the participle endings that English borrowed in large numbers, so the verb is simply the act of making spores. The base "sporule" is itself a diminutive of "spore," which traces back to Greek "spora," meaning a sowing or seed, from "speirein," to sow. The pattern is transparent enough that the word needs little decoding. Spores are the tiny reproductive units of fungi, bacteria and plants such as ferns and mosses, and "sporulate" names the process of releasing or forming them. Because the word is a technical coinage built from classical parts, it was not used by Greeks or Romans; it belongs to the modern scientific vocabulary that grew up when microbiology and mycology were named.