Zygophore

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specialized fungal filament that bears a zygospore, the thick-walled resting spore formed when two mating strands fuse
2. The branch of a fungal thread on which a zygospore develops after two compatible hyphae have joined together
3. A hypha in certain fungi, such as bread molds, that supports a zygospore produced during sexual reproduction

Etymology: Zygophore is a compound built from two Greek-derived pieces. The first, "zygo-", comes from Greek "zygon", meaning "yoke" or "pair", the same root that gives English words about joining or pairing. The second, "-phore", comes from Greek "phoros", "bearing" or "carrying", as in "carrier" or "bearer". Put together, the literal sense is something like "yoke-bearer" or "pair-bearer". The name describes what the structure does rather than what it looks like. In the fungi that produce zygophores, two such threads grow toward each other and fuse, and the joined pair is the bearer of the reproductive spores. The term is a modern technical coinage built from classical roots, not a word that ancient Greeks used for fungi.