Azurophil

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Readily taking up the blue-purple dye azure in biological staining, describing certain granules found within cells
2. Having an affinity for azure stains, so that particular cell granules appear distinctly blue or purple under the microscope
3. Describing cellular components that absorb azure dyes during histological staining, producing a characteristic bluish-violet color

Etymology: Long before it named a stain, the blue of lapis lazuli gave English "azure." The stone's Arabic name, "al-lazaward," passed through Persian and Medieval Latin "azzurum" into Old French "azur," and English took the colour word from there. "Azurophil" joins that colour to the Greek "philos," meaning "loving," in the form "-phil." Laboratory staining made the name useful. Certain granules in white blood cells take up azure dyes readily, so biologists called them azurophil, and the same label was applied to the cells that contain them. The noun and adjective share the one sense: something that is drawn to azure stains.

Synonyms: azurophilic