espongiforme

spongiform

adjective ehs-pohn-hee-FOR-meh Rare

Origin: From Latin spongia ('sponge') + forma ('form').

Usage Note

Espongiforme is almost exclusively encountered in the medical and veterinary term encefalopatía espongiforme bovina (BSE). It has a single form for both genders and its plural is espongiformes. Outside specialist science writing it is essentially unused. The g before i is pronounced as the Spanish j sound (like English 'h'), which is why the respelling uses 'h'.

Examples

"La encefalopatía espongiforme afectó al ganado."

Natural Translation

Spongiform encephalopathy affected the livestock.

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