- lepido-
- before vowels lepid-, word-forming element used since late 18c. in science with a sense of "scale" (of a fish, etc.), comb. form of Greek lepis (genitive lepidos) "scale of a fish" (related to lepein "to peel;" see leper). As in lepidodendron (1819 in German), common fossil "club-moss tree" of the Carboniferous.
