Phleb

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A combining form from Greek used in medical and scientific terms to indicate a vein or the veins of the body
2. A prefix element borrowed from Greek that appears in technical words to refer to blood vessels called veins
3. A word-building element from Greek meaning vein, found in medical terminology describing vessel conditions and procedures

Etymology: In ancient Greek, "phleps" (genitive "phlebos") meant a vein or blood vessel. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, though some scholars connect it to roots meaning "to swell" or "to burst forth." English never used the stem alone. It appears only as a combining element in technical words. Those words were built mostly in modern medical writing, when physicians needed exact names for vessel disorders and procedures. Phlebitis is inflammation of a vein, and phlebotomy combines the stem with Greek "tomē," meaning "a cutting," to name the practice of opening a vein to draw blood.