Lympho

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A prefix used in medical and scientific terms to indicate lymph or the lymphatic system and its cells
2. A combining form that appears in technical words to signal a connection with lymph, lymph vessels or lymphocytes
3. Used at the start of specialized words to refer to lymph, the clear fluid of the immune system and its tissues

Etymology: Before it became a medical building block, the Latin "lympha" meant plain water, especially clear water. Its origin is uncertain. Some scholars have linked it to the Greek "nymphe" (nymph), but that connection is not secure. English borrowed the word for the watery bodily fluid that drains through the tissues, and the sense stayed close to its Latin root of clearness. "Lympho-" is a combining form, a shortened element used to build scientific terms. It appears in "lymphocyte," a white blood cell, where "-cyte" comes from the Greek "kytos," meaning hollow vessel or cell. It also appears in "lymphoma," a cancer of the lymph tissue, where "-oma" marks a growth or tumour. Medical writers attach the element to other roots as needed, so "lymphatic" and "lymphadenopathy" follow the same pattern.