Coccus

A coccus (plural cocci) is any bacterium that has a spherical, ovoid, or generally round shape. It is one of the three distinct bacterial shapes, the other two being bacillus (rod-shaped) and spiral-shaped cells.

Coccus is an English loanword of a Neolatin noun, which in turn stems from the Greek masculine noun kokkos (κόκκος) meaning "berry".

Arrangements

Cocci may occur as single cells or remain attached following cell division. Those that remain attached can be classified based on cellular arrangement:

References