cocci definition
Staphylococcus bacteria. 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. Cocci is an English loanword of a modern or neo-Latin noun, which in turn stems from the Greek masculine noun kokkos (ÎºÏÎºÎºÎ¿Ï) meaning berry.