symbiosis

/sɪmbaɪˈoʊsɪs/

/sɪmbaɪˈʌʊsɪs/

Symbiosis, a noun, tells about the relationship between living things that helps all of them stay alive, like the symbiosis between bees that eat nectar from flowers that get cross-pollinated when the bees move from one to the next.

To correctly pronounce symbiosis, accent the third syllable: "sim-be-OH-sis." The prefix syn comes from the Greek word "together" and bios means "life." So symbiosis means "a living together." Things that live in symbiosis depend on one another, like the clown fish and anemone that protect one another from ocean predators, or the symbiosis between a dairy farmer and one who grows hay, trading milk for hay bales that feed the cows.

Definitions of symbiosis

1. noun

   the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other
   synonyms: mutualism

   types:

   trophobiosis

   a symbiotic relation in which one organism protects the other in return for some kind of food product

   type of:

   interdependence, interdependency, mutuality

   a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)