cryptococcus
noun
cryp·to·coc·cus ˌkrip-tə-ˈkä-kəs 
plural cryptococci ˌkrip-tə-ˈkäk-ˌsī
-ˌsē,
-ˈkä-ˌkī,
-ˌkē
: any of a genus (Cryptococcus) of budding imperfect fungi that resemble yeasts and include a number of saprophytes and a few serious pathogens
cryptococcal
ˌkrip-tə-ˈkä-kəl
adjective 
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin, from crypto- crypto- + -coccus -coccus
Note: Taxon introduced by the German pharmacist and phycologist Friedrich Traugott Kützing (1807-93) in "Beitrag zur Kenntnis über die Entstehung und Metamorphose der niedern vegetabilischen Organismen," Linnaea, vol. 8 (1833), p. 339. Kützing appears to have so named what he characterized as "farblose Schleimkügelchen" ("colorless balls of slime") because of his difficulty in seeing them. As a valid description of a taxon Kützing's work has given way to an account by the French mycologist Jean Paul Vuillemin in "Les blastomycètes pathogènes," Revue générales des sciences pures et appliquées, vol. 12 (1901), pp. 732-51.
First Known Use
1835, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
cryptococcus
noun
cryp·to·coc·cus -ˈkäk-əs
1
capitalized : a genus of budding imperfect fungi that resemble yeasts and include a number of saprophytes and a few serious pathogens
2
plural cryptococci -ˈkäk-ˌ(s)ī, -(ˌ)(s)ē : any fungus of the genus Cryptococcus
: any fungus of the genus Cryptococcus