hypha

Any of the long, threadlike filaments that form the mycelium of a fungus.

Noun

  1. Any of the long, threadlike filaments that form the mycelium of a fungus.
    • She lays out how fungal hyphae—countless miles of filaments folded up in every spoon of soil—coax open tree roots and tap into them. - 2018, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Vintage (2019), page 272:

Origin

From New Latin hypha, from Ancient Greek ὑφή (huphḗ, “web”).

Forms

hyphae

Derived

hyphal hyphalike hyphoid pseudohypha