Lipo

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Describing a type of fat found in living organisms, often associated with energy storage and biological functions
2. Pertaining to a category of substances that include triglycerides and phospholipids, essential for cell structure
3. Relating to procedures or processes that involve the removal or alteration of fat, particularly in medical and cosmetic contexts

Etymology: "Lipo" is a clipping, a shortened form of "liposuction," the cosmetic surgical procedure in which fat is vacuumed out of the body through narrow tubes. The clipping is the part that does the real work in English: it is the form most people use in conversation and advertising, and it has spread to sit alongside its full parent word. The prefix that gives the full word its meaning goes back to ancient Greek "lipos," meaning fat or grease, which came from an earlier root that also produced words for oil and fat in several languages. English took the Greek element and built the medical prefix "lipo-" from it, which is why it appears in technical terms about fat cells and fatty tissue. "Suction" is the other half, an English word meaning the drawing in of something by reduced pressure. Put together, "liposuction" literally means "fat-suction," a fairly plain description of what the procedure does.

Synonyms: liposuction, lipid