ScienceAugust 27, 2026

parasitizes

PAIR-uh-sy-ty-ziz

Definition

To live on or inside another organism while obtaining nutrients at the host's expense.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek word 'parasitos', meaning 'one who eats at another's table,' which entered English via Latin and French.

In the news

The article uses the word to describe how dodder plants steal essential nutrients from their host plants, highlighting the parasitic nature that facilitates horizontal gene transfer.

Parasitic plants act like genetic engineers by stealing and remodeling useful genes

Read the full article ↗

Asia Research News |

Related words

birefringence

An optical phenomenon where a material or medium causes a beam of light to be split into…

Science

cytochrome

A type of protein found in cells that plays a key role in electron transport and chemical…

Science

dodder

A type of parasitic plant that lacks chlorophyll, wraps around a host plant, and draws…

Science

intron

A segment of a DNA or RNA molecule that does not code for proteins and is removed during…

Science

lignan

A type of chemical compound found in plants that often acts as an antioxidant.

Science

magnetar

A rare, highly dense type of neutron star characterized by an extremely powerful magnetic…

Science

Learn a word like this every day

Meet one new word every morning.

Newspoken pulls one carefully chosen word from the day’s news — with a clear definition, context, and light review that makes it stick. Get it on your phone.