Standard Lemma guide

commensalism

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kəˈmɛnsəˌlɪzm̩/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A sharing of the same environment by two organisms where one species benefits and the other is unaffected. An example is barnacles on whales.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, ecology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The act of eating together; table fellowship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the relation between two different kinds of organisms when one receives benefits from the other without damaging it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mutuality, interdependence, interdependency

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English commensal Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English commensalism From commensal + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 片利共生 (piànlì-gòngshēng) — sharing of the same environment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 偏利共生 (piānlì-gòngshēng) — sharing of the same environment
  • Finnish: pöytävierassuhde — sharing of the same environment
  • Finnish: kommensalismi — sharing of the same environment
  • German: Kommensalismus — sharing of the same environment
  • Hindi: सहभोजिता (sahbhojitā) — sharing of the same environment
  • Japanese: 片利共生 (henrikyōsei) — sharing of the same environment
  • Polish: komensalizm — sharing of the same environment
  • Portuguese: comensalismo — sharing of the same environment
  • Spanish: comensalismo — sharing of the same environment