Streptococcus is a genus of coccus (spherical) gram-positive bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria). Cell division in this genus occurs along a single axis in these bacteria, and thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name—from Greek στρεπτός streptos, meaning easily bent or twisted, like a chain (twisted chain). (Contrast this with staphylococci, which divide along multiple axes and generate grape-like clusters of cells.)