Atheromatous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to arterial walls that have fatty deposits leading to blockages
2. Describing tissues impacted by lipid accumulation and inflammation in arteries, resulting in potential cardiovascular issues
3. Connected with the presence of fat deposits within arterial walls that may cause narrowing or obstruction

Etymology: "Atheromatous" is a medical adjective built in the plainest way: it combines "atheroma," a fatty deposit in an artery wall, with the English suffix "-ous," meaning "full of" or "characterised by." So an atheromatous artery is one marked by such deposits, which is why the term is used for the changes that can narrow or block a blood vessel. The noun it grows from, "atheroma," comes from Greek "athērōma," a "gruel-like tumour" or swelling, from "athērē," meaning "porridge" or "gruel." The image was of a soft, pultaceous mass, the look of cooked meal, which doctors applied to the pale, fatty core of an arterial lesion. Medical writers borrowed the Greek term into their Latin and then into modern scientific vocabulary, so the adjective inherits a grain-based metaphor that has nothing to do with blood vessels in themselves.