Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An organism, especially a fungus or bacterium, that derives its nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, a plant that grows on decaying vegetable matter, as many species of fungi, the Indian-pipe, etc. Also called humus-plant. See hysterophyte and Fungi.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) Any plant growing on decayed animal or vegetable matter, as most fungi and some flowering plants with no green color, as the Indian pipe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any organism that lives on dead organic matter, as certain fungi and bacteria.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an organism that feeds on dead organic matter especially a fungus or bacterium

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sapro- (“putrid matter”) + -phyte (“plant, growth”)

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Examples

Comments

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  • sap + ROPHYTE = muthaeffin' bingo.

    October 14, 2008