symbiosis

US/sɪmbaɪˈoʊsɪs/

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,948 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: symbioses

Symbiosis is a close relationship in which each side gains. A perfect symbiosis.

Lichens are two organisms in symbiosis and were long taken for one. The word is used loosely of any arrangement that suits both sides.

Definitions of symbiosis

1nounsymbiosisA close relationship in which each side gains.C1
“The whole arrangement was a symbiosis that outlasted both founders.”

symbiosis is a relationship.

Where it comes from

Greek symbiosis means living together, from syn plus bios, life.

Ancient Greek
συμβίωσις — living together
English, today
symbiosis

From Ancient Greek συμβίωσις (“living together”). by surface analysis, sym- + -biosis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

symbiosis in the wild

In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined symbiosis as "the living together of unlike organisms".
Symbiosis
Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary biologist, who was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution.
Lynn Margulis
Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis.
Mutualism (biology)
Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, primarily legumes, that form a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Root nodule
Indeed, high nitrogen content blocks nodule development as there is no benefit for the plant of forming the symbiosis.
Root nodule

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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