-biosis

The combining form –biosis is used like a suffix meaning “mode of life.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology.

The form –biosis comes from Greek bíōsis, meaning “state of living.” The Latin cognate of bíōsis is vivere, “to live,” which is the source of words such as survive, vivacity, and vivid. Find out more at our entry for each word.

What are variants of –biosis?

Although –biosis has no variants, it shares an origin with the combining forms bio– and –biont. Want to learn more? Check out our Words That Use articles for bio– and –biont.

An example of a word you may have encountered that features –biosis is symbiosis, “the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism.” Symbiosis comes from Greek symbíōsis, which uses the equivalent of the form in that language.

The form sym– means “with” or “together,” from Greek sýn. The –biosis portion of the word means “mode of life,” as we have seen. Symbiosis literally translates to “mode of living together.”

What are some words that use the combining form –biosis?

• anabiosis (using the equivalent form of –biosis in Greek)
• antibiosis
• metabiosis
• necrobiosis
• parabiosis

What are some other forms that –biosis may be commonly confused with?

• -biont
• -blast
• -osis

The combining form anti– means “against.” With this in mind, what does antibiosis literally mean?