Dialyses

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The process of separating substances in a solution by selectively permeable membranes
2. A medical treatment that removes waste products from the blood when the kidneys are not functioning properly
3. A method used to purify or concentrate a substance through the use of diffusion across a membrane

Etymology: "Dialyses" is simply the plural of "dialysis," so its history is that of the singular noun. Dialysis comes from Latin "dialysis," itself borrowed from Ancient Greek "diálusis," meaning "dissolution" or "separation." The Greek word is built from "dia-," meaning "through" or "apart," and "lysis," meaning "loosening" or "release," from the verb "lyein," to loosen or undo. The Greek sense of "undoing" survives in the medical use. Its first recorded appearance in English dates to around 1550, when it still carried the general sense of a separation or breaking apart. The modern meaning, the filtering of waste from the blood, belongs to a much later scientific usage, and the word's core idea of separating one thing from another remains intact.

Synonyms: diffusions, separations, filtrations, purifications