Plasmolysed

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Caused a plant or other cell to shrink as its cytoplasm pulled away from the cell wall after water left through osmosis
2. Had a cell contract and detach from its wall because water moved out of it across the membrane by osmosis
3. Shrank a living cell by drawing water out of it, so the protoplast pulled away from the cell wall

Etymology: "Plasmolysed" is the British spelling of the past tense and past participle of "plasmolyse", meaning to cause a cell to shrink as water leaves it through osmosis. The verb itself is built from "plasma", in the biological sense of the cell's protoplasm, and the Greek-derived "lysis", meaning loosening or breaking down, which is also the source of "-lysis" in words such as "hydrolysis". Together the pieces describe the cell's contents pulling away from the cell wall when the surrounding solution is concentrated enough to draw water out.