-coccal

American  

1. a combining form of adjectives corresponding to nouns formed with -coccus:

   streptococcal.

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Usage

What does -coccal mean? The combining form -coccal is used like a suffix meaning “pertaining to a coccus.” Coccus is a scientific term with two meanings. In terms from bacteriology, it means "spherical bacterium." In terms from botany, it refers to the mericarp, one segment of a schizocarp, a kind of fruit. The form -coccal comes from a combination of two forms. The first is -coccus, from Greek kókkos, meaning “grain, seed, or berry.” The second is the suffix -al, from Latin -ālis, meaning "of the kind of, pertaining to, having the form or character of."What are variants of -coccal?While -coccal doesn't have any variants, it is related to the form -coccus, as in streptococcus. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article for -coccus.