Hypnozoites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Dormant forms of malaria parasites that remain in the liver and can later trigger relapses of the infection
2. Resting stages of certain malaria-causing parasites hidden in the liver that may reactivate weeks or months after the original infection
3. Inactive parasite cells lodged in the liver that can cause malaria to return long after the first bout of illness

Etymology: Malaria parasites can lie dormant in the liver for months, then wake up and cause fresh infections long after the original bite. The Greek roots of their name describe exactly that. "Hypnos" means sleep, and "zoon" means living being, so the term amounts to "sleeping creature." Hypnozoites are the dormant liver-stage forms of certain Plasmodium species, notably vivax and ovale, which is why relapses can occur after the blood-stage infection has been cleared. The plural, hypnozoites, follows the regular English pattern of the singular. "Zoon" covers any living thing, not only animals, so the name reads more literally as "sleeping living thing."