 The etymology of the term is not clear but most authors and encyclopaedia entries assume that it is a combination of the German words ‘Gen’ and ‘Chromosom’, leading to the composite ‘Genom’. In general, the origin and the different meanings of the -ome suffix are not entirely clear and there are now several accounts that try to bring some structure and/or meaning to the ever flourishing -omes terminology in contemporary life sciences (see, e.g., Lederberg &amp; McCray 2001; Fields &amp; Johnston 2002; Yadav 2007; Eisen 2012: Baker 2013; for interesting/entertaining lists, see -omes and -omics in the   Other Internet Resources section  below).