Oophorectomy

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /oʊˌɒfəˈɹɛktəmi/

Definitions

1. A surgical technique that involves extracting one or both ovaries from a female patient for medical purposes
2. The medical procedure of removing one or both ovaries from a female body through surgery
3. An operation in which one or both female reproductive glands are taken out for health-related reasons

Etymology: Oophorectomy is a purely technical coinage built from two Greek elements. "Oophoron" combines "ōon," meaning "egg," with "phoros," meaning "bearing" or "carrying," so the ovary was named as the egg-bearer. The second element, "-ektomia," comes from "ek," meaning "out," and "tomē," meaning "a cutting," so the suffix means cutting out. The term was assembled from these classical parts by modern medical writers rather than used by ancient Greek physicians, who had no such surgical procedure. Its formation follows the standard pattern of surgical nouns in English, in which an organ name is joined to "-ectomy," as in appendectomy and tonsillectomy.