parasite

1. Biology. An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
2. 1. One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.
   2. One who lives off and flatters the rich; a sycophant.
3. A professional dinner guest, especially in ancient Greece.

[Latin parasītus, a person who lives by amusing the rich, from Greek parasītos, person who eats at someone else's table, parasite : para-, beside; see para-¹ + sītos, grain, food.]

noun

One who depends on another for support without reciprocating: bloodsucker, hanger-on, leech, sponge. Slang freeloader. See dependence/independence.

Definition: leech
Antonyms: host

n

Definition: something which sucks everything out of another
Antonyms: blessing

An organism living in or on and obtaining nourishment from another organism.

parasite (parasītos), in Greek, originally ‘fellow-diner’, ‘guest’. In the Old Comedy of the fifth century BC it had acquired the pejorative sense of ‘sponger’, one who earns a meal by flattering and humouring his host. To judge from surviving titles, the parasite often played a leading role in Middle Comedy; in New Comedy he is a stock character, the companion of another of the same, the boastful soldier, whose vanity he flatters in return for being kept. The names of notorious parasites in real life appear in some comedies. See COMEDY, GREEK.

An organism that lives off or in another organism, obtaining nourishment and protection while offering no benefit in return. Human parasites are often harmful to the body and can cause diseases, such as trichinosis.

A plant or animal that lives upon or within another living organism at whose expense it obtains some advantage. See also symbiosis.
Among the many parasites in nature, some feed upon animal hosts, causing diseases ranging from the mildly annoying to the severe and often fatal. Parasites include multicelled and single-celled animals, fungi and bacteria. Viruses are sometimes considered to be parasites. However, the commonest use of the word refers to the multicellular helminth, arachnid, crustacean (copepod) and arthropod parasites.

• accidental p. — one that parasitizes an organism other than the usual host.
• facultative p. — one that may be parasitic upon another organism but can exist independently.
• incidental p. — accidental parasite.
• obligate p., obligatory p. — one that is entirely dependent upon a host for its survival.
• periodic p. — one that parasitizes a host for short periods.
• temporary p. — one that lives free of its host during part of its life cycle.

A plant that steals all its food from another, to which it is attached and which it typically injures. Tree-perching plants such as orchids and bromeliads are often mistakenly called parasites; they are actually epiphytes. Mistletoe, witch grass, and dodder are parasites, as are many fungi.

Parasites are straightforward symbols for people who seek nourishment from others but who give nothing in return. Sometimes perfectly normal behavior can be experienced as parasitic. Parasites in a dream could refer to others who drain us, or representations of projects and activities that we feel "drain" our time.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - snylter

Nederlands (Dutch)
parasiet

Français (French)
n. - (lit, fig) parasite

Deutsch (German)
n. - Parasit, Schmarotzer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παράσιτο

Italiano (Italian)
parassita

Português (Portuguese)
n. - parasita (m) (Biol.), bajulador (m)

Русский (Russian)
паразит

Español (Spanish)
n. - parásito

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - parasit, snyltgäst

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
寄生虫, 食客

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 寄生蟲, 食客

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 기생동물, 식객, 어릿광대

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 寄生動物, 寄生虫, 居候, 寄生生物

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الطفيلي, من يقحم نفسه على موائد الغرباء من دعوة, من يكسب رزقه بالتملق, حيوان أو نبات طفيلي, العاله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮טפיל, פרזיט, הגה או אות המתפתחים מהגה או אות סמוכים (בלשנות)‬

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