Fito is a Greek word which means, plant, mata, vegetation, vegetable. In Spanish can be a prefix or a suffix without changing the meaning. In the words of plant pathology and saprophyte has the same meaning (vegetable, plant). The first word is the science that studies diseases of plants and appears as a prefix. In the second, which means he eats rotting plants, makes reference to a cllase of fungi and figure as a suffix.
