fruiting body

noun

plural fruiting bodies

: a structure (as of a moss or liverwort) specialized for producing spores

especially : the spore-producing organ of a fungus or slime mold : sporophore

Examples of fruiting body in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the classroom, Green teaches students in his biology and environmental science classes the fundamentals of a mushroom, the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus. —Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 19 Feb. 2026

Sometimes there are so many red fruiting bodies of the fungus that large areas of the trunk appear red. —Pamm Cooper, Hartford Courant, 25 Jan. 2026

Further inspection revealed that the mysterious object was a bracket fungus, a type of fungal fruiting body that typically grows on trees. —Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Dec. 2025

Garden and lawn soil is full of fungal spores, and mushrooms are the above-ground fruiting bodies of those fungi. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 13 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1887, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fruiting body

• afterbody
• antibody
• busybody
• everybody
• autoantibody
• bawdy
• gaudy
• khadi
• mahdi
• noddy
• oddi
• shoddy

Kids Definition

fruiting body

noun

: a plant organ specialized for producing spores

Medical Definition

fruiting body

noun

fruit·​ing body ˈfrüt-iŋ- 

: a plant organ specialized for producing spores

especially : sporophore