Myeloproliferative

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or characterized by abnormal proliferation of bone marrow cells resulting in excessive production of one or more types of blood cells, associated with a group of disorders affecting hematopoiesis
2. Pertaining to a condition in which the bone marrow produces too many blood cells, typically involving disorders marked by overactive cell growth and accumulation of blood elements
3. Concerning diseases that involve excessive growth and multiplication of bone marrow components, leading to elevated counts of blood cells and potential disruption of normal blood cell formation

Etymology: "Myeloproliferative" is a modern medical coinage, built from two parts that each have a long history of their own. The first, "myelo-", comes from the Ancient Greek "muelós", meaning marrow, the soft tissue inside bones where blood cells are made. The second, "proliferative", is an English adjective from "proliferate", which descends from Latin "proles" (offspring) and "ferre" (to bear) through the sense of rapid multiplication or spreading growth. Put together, the term describes a state in which the marrow's cell-making machinery multiplies out of control. Ancient Greeks and Romans had no concept of this condition, so the word was assembled from classical building blocks in modern medicine. The "-ive" ending traces back through Old French "-if" and Latin "-īvus", a suffix that turns a verb into an adjective describing a tendency or capacity, so "proliferative" means "tending to proliferate."

Synonyms: bone marrow proliferative, hematopoietic proliferative