Lipaemic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing blood that appears milky or cloudy because it contains an unusually high level of fat particles
2. Relating to serum or plasma that looks turbid and whitish due to elevated lipids circulating in the bloodstream
3. Characterized by blood that has a cloudy, milky appearance caused by a large concentration of fats in the plasma

Etymology: "Lipemic" describes blood that looks milky or cloudy because it contains an excess of fat particles, a condition usually seen after a meal rich in fat. The word is built from "lipemia," the medical term for that condition, plus the adjectival suffix "-ic." The suffix comes down through Latin "-icus," which English took in through Old French "-ique" and Middle English "-ik," before settling into the modern form "-ic." "Lipemia" is a modern scientific coinage, not an ancient one. It combines the Greek-derived element "lip-," from Greek "lipos," meaning fat, with "-emia," the combining form for blood, from Greek "haima." Medical writers assembled these classical parts to name a clinical observation, so the word has no life outside the laboratory and clinic.

Synonyms: lipemic