Words of Hematology, The

Medicine and Health Rhode Island,  Jul 2006  by Aronson, Stanley M

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Hematology required the Invention of the clinical microscope to achieve its status as a major subspecialty of internal medicine. Therefore most of the operative words in the hematological vocabulary refer to structures made visible and identifiable solely by microscopic examination.

The erythrocyte, the red blood cell, derives its name from two Greek roots: erythro, meaning red, and cytos, meaning a hollow structure, a cell or a vault. Other words rooted in erythro- include erythroderma, erythrogenesis imperfecta [an archaic term for neonatal anemia] and erythromycin. Yet other Greek roots denoting shades of red include rhodomeaning rose-colored [as in rhodomycin, rhododendron and rhodium] and eos [meaning pink dawn] as in words such as eosinophile and eosophobia [fear of the dawn.]

The leukocyte, the white blood cell, is derived from the Greek, leukos, meaning white, as in words such as leukemia [the haema root meaning blood], leukodystrophy, leukopenia [with the Greek root, penia, meaning poverty], leukoplakia and leucomycin.

A Mediterranean plant with white blossoms, Leucothoe, is named after the daughter of Orchamos, king of Babylon, who [for obscure reasons] was turned into a shrub by Apollo.

There is a Latin word, lucens, which is cognate with the G reek, leukos, and means light or bright. It appears in such English words as lucid, translucent, Lucifer [the expelled archangel whose name means the carrier of light] and Lucina, die Roman goddess of childbirth [she who brings the newborn to light.]

The word platelet is derived from the Greek, plattus, meaning flat or broad as in words such as plateau, platform, platitude [a dull, flat remark] and platinum. The source of the platelets, the very large, nucleated cell called the megakaryocyte, gets its name from the Greek, megas, meaning large, and karyon, meaning a nut or a nucleus as in English words such as karyogenesis, karyolysis, karyomitosis, karyoryping and karyorrhexis.

The Greek word, myelos, meaning marrow-derived, has evolved into a number of medical words with divergent meanings. Virchow coined the word, myelin, to define the coating of axons and similar words such as poliomyelitis, myelocele, syringomyelia, myelencephalon and myelogenesis all refer to the spinal cord or neighboring medulla oblongata. However, such words as myeloblast, myeloma, myelocyte and myelofibrosis pertain to the cellular components of the bone marrow and are thus in the proper domain of hematology.

- STANLEY M. ARONSON, MD

Copyright Rhode Island Medical Society Jul 2006
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