"pertaining to or of the nature of a saprophyte or saprophytes," 1872; see saprophyte + -ic. Related: Saprophytically.
Entries linking to saprophytic
saprophyte n.
"bacteria or fungus that grows on decaying organic matter," 1867, from French, from Greek sapros "putrid, rotten" (see sapro-) + phyton "plant" (see -phyte). Related: Saprophytism.
-ic
Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).
In Middle English and after often spelled -ick, -ike, -ique. Variant forms in -ick (critick, ethick) were common in early Modern English and survived in English dictionaries into early 19c. This spelling was supported by Johnson but opposed by Webster, who prevailed.