Eosinophilia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An elevated level of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, in the bloodstream; often indicative of allergic reactions, parasitic infections, or certain medical conditions
2. A condition characterized by an abnormal increase in eosinophils within the blood, commonly associated with immune responses to allergens or parasites and some diseases
3. The presence of an unusually high concentration of eosinophils in blood samples, typically signaling allergic responses, infections by parasites, or other pathological states

Etymology: Eosinophilia is a coinage of the late nineteenth century, not an ancient term. In 1879 the German-born scientist Paul Ehrlich, who was then working on blood staining, named the white blood cells that took up the dye eosin as "eosinophils." Eosin itself was named from the Greek "eos," meaning dawn, a nod to its rosy colour. Ehrlich then built the condition name from these parts, so the word describes a rise in those cells. The word has two working parts. "Eosin" supplies the colour idea, and "-philia," from the Greek "philia" meaning love or affinity, here signals a fondness for the dye, since the cells attract it strongly. The middle "-o-" is a linking vowel that joins the two halves, a common pattern in scientific compounds. The word therefore records a laboratory observation: cells that loved a particular stain.

Synonyms: high eosinophil count, eosinophil leukocytosis

Antonyms: eosinopenia