-cola, -colas; -cole; -colent; -colid; -coline; -colous

(Latin: to inhabit; to live in, to live on, to live among; to dwell; living among, dwelling in; occurring on, occurring in)

Suffixes that refer to the location or an area of growth. Used primarily in botanical and biological terminology to indicate a plant or an organism that is characterized by a habitat or place of existence as indicated by the combining root.

The suffix -cole is derived from Latin colere, "to inhabit, to dwell, to live".

If you want to see more details about a "Source" link under any of the entries in this unit, click on it and you will be taken to the Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit and there you can find the book by scrolling down until you see the TITLE of the book in GREEN.

Don't confuse this -cole, -cola , "inhabit, live in, dwelling in" unit with the following cole-, coleo- (sheath, scabbard, vagina); coll-, col- (neck); collo-, coll- (glue); colo-, col- (colon, large intestine); and colon-, coln- (farm, settlement) units.

piscicole (verb), piscicoles; piscicoled; piscicoling: fish
Living on or within fishes.
piscicolous (adjective), more piscicolous, most piscicolous
planktocole (verb), planktocoles; planktocoled; planktocoling
Thriving or living in organisms that are unable to maintain their positions or distributions independent of the movements of water or air masses.
planticola (s) (noun), planticolas (pl)
Species that exist on, or in, plants for nourishment or reproduction.
planticole (verb), planticoles; planticoled; planticoling
The process of species spending most of their active lives on or within vegetation: Some insects planticole in dense clusters on plants in gardens which makes gardeners despise seeing them, because when the bugs are planticoling, it deprives the herbs of their saps which causes them to wilt and to dry up.

Many animals survive on plants for food and as places for living and protection.

Animals that live on vegetation.
planticolous (adjective), more planticolous, most planticolous
A reference to insects or any other organisms which live on or inside verdure (green foliage): The planticolous aphids suck out the juices of plants for the protein in the plant sap; however, since such sap is poor in proteins, the aphids have to take up a lot of sap in order to provide their protein supply while taking in more carbohydrates than they need which results in a surplus that is excreted by the aphids as sugar.
pluviocole (verb), pluviocoles; pluviocoled; pluviocoling: rain
Living or thriving in conditions where there is an abundance of rainfall.
pluviosilvicola (s) (noun), pluviosilvicolas (pl): rainforest
1. Creatures and plants that cohabit in rain forests.
2. Etymology: from Latin pluvio, "rain" + silvi, "woods, forests" + -cola, "life among, dwellers ".
pluviosilvicole (verb), pluviosilvicoles; pluviosilvicoled; pluviosilvicoling
To live in rain forests consisting of zonal areas in which different species of animals and plants inhabit.
pluviosilvicolous (adjective), more pluviosilvicolous, most pluviosilvicolous
A reference to the inhabitation of rain forests
poleocole (verb), poleocoles; poleocoled; poleocoling: city, urban
Living in urban or city places.
pontocole (verb), pontocoles; pontocoled; pontocoling: deep sea
Living deep in the sea.
pontohalicole (verb): salt marsh
Living or dwelling in salt marshes.
pontohalicolous (adjective), more pontohalicolous, most pontohalicolous
poocole (verb), poocoles; poocoled; poocoling: meadow
Living in meadows.

For more details about plants and animals living together, go to this Habitats for the Living page.

The list of books or the resources that were used to compile the information for this unit are available at this Bibliography of Habitat and Dwelling Environments unit.


You may take a self-scoring quiz over some of the words in this section by clicking on this -cole, -colus quiz to check your word knowledge for this unit or even learn some of the words via this quiz.

Related life, live-word units: anima-; bio-; vita-; viva-.