-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.

ruricole (verb), ruricoles; ruricoled; ruricoling: fields, country area
Living in the country or in fields.
ruricoline (adjective), more ruricoline, most ruricoline
ruricolous (adjective), more ruricolous, most ruricolous
sabulicole (verb), sabulicoles; sabulicoled; sabulicoling: sand
Living in sand.
sabulicolous (adjective), more sabulicolous, most sabulicolous
sanguicole (verb), sanguicoles; sanguicoled; sanguicoling: blood
Living in, or inhabiting, blood which parasites are known to do.
sanguicoline (adjective), more sanguicoline, most sanguicoline
sanguicolous (adjective), more sanguicolous, most sanguicolous
sanguinicole, sanquinicolous
A rare spelling of sanguicole, sanguicolous.
saxicole (verb), saxicoles; saxicoled; saxicoling: rocks, stones
Dwelling, inhabiting, or growing among stony places; something that lives on or among rocks.
saxicoline (adjective), more saxicoline, most saxicoline
Of, relating to, or characteristic of those creatures, or plants, that grow on or live among rocks.
saxicolous (adjective), more saxicolous, most saxicolous
1. Referring to living in, on, or among rocks: "As a graduate student, Tim studied saxicolous lichens above the tree line in three different parts of the mountains in Colorado."
2. Etymology: from Latin, saxum, "rock" and -colous, "living" or "growing in or on" and it has been traced back to Latin -cola, meaning "inhabitant".

Other words with the same suffix were coined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe the flora and fauna of the world.

sepicole (verb), sepicoles; sepicoled; sepicoling: hedgerow
Living, or dwelling, in hedgerows.
sepicolous (adjective), more sepicolous, most sepicolous
silicole (verb), silicoles; silicoled; silicoling
Living in soil rich in silica or silicates, containing, resembling, relating to, or consisting of a white or colorless crystalline; such as, sand, quartz and other minerals used to manufacture glass, concrete and other materials.

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-.