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commensal

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From Middle English commensal, from Old French commensal, from Medieval Latin commensālis, from com- + mensa (“table”) + -ālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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commensal (not comparable)

  1. (ecology) Of a form of symbiosis in which one organism derives a benefit while the other is unaffected.
    • 1911, E. J. Banfield, chapter XIII, in My Tropic Isle‎[1]:
      The fish (AMPHIPRION PERCULA) "intel-intel" of the blacks, is said to be commensal (literally, dining at the same table with its host), as distinguished from the parasite, which lives on its host.
    • 1914, H. G. Wells, “The Great State”, in An Englishman Looks at the World […] ‎[2], Cassell & Co:
      With this there is also associated the grazing or herding over wider or more restricted areas, belonging either collectively or discretely to the community, of sheep, cattle, goats, or swine, and almost always the domestic fowl is commensal with man in this life.
  2. Eating at the same table.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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commensal (plural commensals)

  1. (ecology) An organism partaking in a commensal relationship.
    • 2001, Yann Martel, Life of Pi, Canongate, published 2003, →ISBN, page 260:
      The tree did indeed grow right out of the algae, as I had seen from the lifeboat. There was not the least trace of soil. Either there was soil deeper down, or this species of tree was a remarkable instance of a commensal or a parasite.
  2. One who eats at the same table.
    • 1886, William Dean Howells, Indian Summer‎[3]:
      Colville ordered it, and was sorry when the last of his commensals, slightly bowing him a good-night, left him alone to it.
    • 1910, Frederick Lawton, Balzac‎[4]:
      Around this tragic central figure are grouped the commensals of the Vauquer pension, Rastignac, the young law-student, with shallow purse and aristocratic connections; […] .
    • 1920, Emile Joseph Dillon, The Inside Story of The Peace Conference‎[5], Harper & Brothers:
      More than once I sat down to lunch or dinner with brilliant commensals, one of whom was understood to have made away with a well-known personage in order to rid the state of a bad administrator, and another had, at a secret Vehmgericht in Turkey, condemned a friend of mine, now a friend of his, to be assassinated.

Translations

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Medieval Latin commēnsālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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commensal (feminine commensale, masculine plural commensaux, feminine plural commensales)

  1. commensal

Noun

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commensal m (plural commensaux)

  1. commensal
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Further reading

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