Prefix or suffix Meaning Example

-ase designating an enzyme cellase

-cidal killing insecticidal
-embryon fruit of the womb
-emia blood
-gen- to produce, to begin
-genesis creation parthenogenesis
-gnath- jaw, cheek ectognathus
-graph to write
-iasis infestation myiasis
-itis inflammation
-ium refers to a part of the body
-logy study of entomology
-lysin, -lysis, -lytic dissolve, destroy apolysis
-oid like parasitoid
-ole small tracheole
-ology science, knowledge entomology
-oma swelling, tumor
-parous bearing oviparous
-ped foot
-phagy consumption of polyphagy
-phil- loving
-plasm- substance
-pod foot hexapod
-trophic feeding
-tropic attached to
a- not, without ametabolous
agri- field agriculture
an- not, without
anter- front anterior
anti- against, opposed to antibiotics
apo- off, from, away from apolysis
arthr- joint, articulation arthropod
auto- self
bi- two, twice bilateral
bio- life, living biology
cephalo- head
co- together, with
cuti- skin cuticle
di-, dipl- two, double, twice
dia- through, between
dors- back dorsal
ec- out of, away from
ecto- outside ectoderm
em-, en-, endo-, ent- in, into, within endoskeleton
entom- insects entomology
epi- on, above, upon, over epidermis
eu- well, true, good, normal eusocial
ex- , extra- out of, away from extracellular
hemi- half hemimetabolous
hemo- blood hemolymph
hermaphrodite son of Hermes and Aphrodite hermaphroditism
hetero- different, other heteroptera
hex- six hexapoda
holo- holometabolous
homo- alike, same homoptera
hydro- water hydrophobic
hyper- over, more than
hypo- under, less than
inter- between, together interspecific
intra- within intracellular
lign- wood lignin
loc- place
lymph-, lympho- lymph
macro- large
micro- small
mono- one, single monophagous
morph- shape, form metamorph
mot- move motile
necr- corpse, dead necrophage
neo- recent, new
neur- relating to nerves neuromuscular
oligo- few, little oligophagous
omni- all omnivore
oo-, ov-, ovi-, ovo- egg oviparity
opt- eye
ort- death
paleo- old, ancient Paleoptera
para- near, by, beside
partheno- virgin parthenogenesis
patho- disease, suffering pathology
paedo- of a child paedogenesis
peri- around, near
phag- / phago- eat
pheno- show phenotype
photo- light photoreceptor
poly- many/much polyembryony
post- after, behind post mortem
pro- before, giving rise to prothorax
pseudo- "false"
psycho- mind
pter- having wings or fins Diptera
stoma- mouth stomadeal
toxi-, toxo- poison
tricho- hair-like trichoid sensillum
uni- one univoltine
ventr- belly, underside ventral
vivi- being alive viviparity
xyl- wood xylophage