Parasitic

How to spell parasitic

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce parasitic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does parasitic mean?

1. adjectiveLiving on or feeding off another organism, or exploiting another person or group while giving nothing in return.

Parasitic in a sentence

• The vet explained that the parasitic worms were draining the dog of nutrients.

• Critics described the loan scheme as parasitic, since it profited entirely from the poorest borrowers.

Where does parasitic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek parasitos, which literally meant 'one who eats beside another' or 'a fellow diner', built from para- 'beside' and sitos 'food, grain'. In ancient Greece the parasitos began as a respectable temple official who shared in sacred meals, but the sense soon soured into 'a hanger-on who flatters the rich for free dinners'. Latin took the word as parasitus, the stock sponging character of Roman comedy, and the related adjective passed through French parasitique. English adopted the adjective parasitic in the seventeenth century, applying it first to such social spongers and later, as biology developed, to organisms that live on or in a host at its expense. The hidden 'sit' that means 'food' rather than 'to sit down' is the spelling clue worth remembering, since it explains the single t in the middle.

How the word is built

• para- (beside, alongside)
• sit (from Greek sitos: food, grain)
• -ic (adjective suffix)