Affixes

Terms in ‑biosis include symbiosis (Greek sun, with), interaction between two organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both (outside science, it can have the sense of a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups); cryptobiosis (Greek kruptos, hidden), a physiological state in which metabolic activity is reduced to an undetectable level without disappearing altogether; necrobiosis (Greek nekros, corpse), gradual degeneration and death of cells in the body tissues.

The form ‑biont indicates an individual organism living in this way: symbiont (from symbiosis); mycobiont (Greek mukēs, fungus, mushroom) and phycobiont (Greek phukos, seaweed, hence alga), respectively the fungal and algal components of a lichen. See also ‑ont.

Words in ‑biotic are adjectives and nouns (deriving from Greek biōtikos, fit for life), either relating to a mode of living described by a word in ‑biosis (cryptobiotic, symbiotic), or to a way of acting on living things: antibiotic, a medicine that inhibits the growth of or destroys micro-organisms; xenobiotic (Greek xenos, stranger, foreigner), of a substance, typically a synthetic chemical, that is foreign to the body or to an ecological system.