Hypodermises

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Administers a drug or other substance beneath the skin using a hypodermic needle
2. Delivers medicine into the tissue just under the skin by means of a syringe
3. Gives an injection of a substance below the surface of the skin with a needle

Etymology: "Hypodermises" is simply the plural of "hypodermis", the layer of tissue lying beneath the skin. The word is a plain compound built from two Greek elements: "hupo", meaning "under", and "derma", meaning "skin". Put together, the name describes exactly what it is: the layer under the dermis, the outer skin. The formation is a modern scientific coinage rather than an ancient one. Greek "hupo" survives in English through the prefix "hypo-", which appears in countless technical terms such as "hypothermia" and "hypotension", while "dermis" supplies the skin element. Anatomists assembled these classical parts to name a structure that ancient Greek writers had no need to distinguish.

Synonyms: subcutis, subcutaneous layer