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commensal: msg#00009

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Subject: commensal

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The Word of the Day for July 10 is:

commensal \kuh-MEN-sul\ adjective
1 : of or relating to those who habitually eat together
*2 : living in a relationship in which one organism obtains
food or other benefits from another without damaging or
benefiting it

Example sentence:
The commensal pearlfish can be found inside the sea
cucumber, nibbling on the internal organs of the host (which,
fortunately, has a unique capacity to regrow its internal
anatomy).

Did you know?
Commensal types, be they human or beast, often "break
bread" together. When they do, they are reflecting the etymology
of "commensal," which derives from the Latin prefix "com-,"
meaning "with, together, jointly" and the Latin
adjective "mensalis," meaning "of the table." In its earliest
English uses, "commensal" referred to people who ate together,
but around 1870, biologists started using it for organisms that
have no use for a four-piece table setting. Since then, the
scientific sense has almost completely displaced the dining one.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.






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