Microtomes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of instrument used in laboratories for cutting extremely thin slices of material, particularly biological tissues
2. Devices specifically designed to create ultra-thin sections of samples for microscopic examination
3. Precision tools employed in histology for preparing samples by slicing them into thin layers for detailed study

Etymology: "Microtomes" is the plural of "microtome," an instrument for slicing material into sections thin enough to examine under a microscope. The word is built from "micro-," from Greek "mikros" meaning small, and "-tome," from Greek "tomē," meaning a cut or slice, which also appears in words like "anatomy" and "epitome." Its suffix, then, names the act of cutting, while the prefix tells you how fine that cut must be. The two parts can be analyzed in more than one way. Some readers take it as "micro" plus "-tome," a suffix meaning "instrument for cutting," in the same pattern as "lithotome" or "bisectome." Others read it as the prefix "micro-" attached to "tome" in the sense of a cut, so that the whole word means something like "small cut." Either analysis produces the same meaning, which is why the word is easy to decode once you know the Greek elements.

Synonyms: sectioning device, slicing instrument