

Aug 26, 2013 This week's theme

Words and Medicine



This week's words

apheresis

syncope

aspirate

prolepsis

agglutinate

Words and Medicine A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg



Words are the lifeblood of the human species. They help circulate thoughts, ideas, and dreams from one person to another. They nourish us.



They soothe us. They make us boil.



Words can cure, mend, and heal. The right word can work like medicine. This week we'll see five words about words. Each of these words also has a meaning related to medicine. apheresis PRONUNCIATION: for 1: uh-FER-i-sis, for 2: af-uh-REE-sis) : uh-FER-i-sis,: af-uh-REE-sis)

MEANING: noun:

1. The loss of one or more sounds or letters from the beginning of a word. For example, the change in pronunciation of knife from (k-nyf) to (nyf) or the use of 'til for until.

2. A method in which blood is drawn from a donor, one or more blood components (such as plasma, platelets, or white blood cells) are removed, and the rest is returned to the donor by transfusion.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin aphaeresis, from Greek aphairesis (taking away), from aphairein (to take away), from apo- (away) + hairein (to take). Earliest documented use: 1550.

USAGE: "Williams gives the Narragansett word in full [poquauhock], though common usage reduced it and Anglicized it through apheresis [to quahog]."

Ray Huling; Harvesting the Bay; Lyons Press; 2012.



"He had quartered in Memphis with Cynthia for weeks, giving over his stem cells through apheresis."

Jan Karon; In the Company of Others; Viking; 2010.

See more usage examples of apheresis in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live. -Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy (b. 1932)





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