Vascular

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈvæskjələ/

Definitions

1. Relating to the system of vessels that carry blood or other fluids throughout the body of an organism
2. Pertaining to the network of tubes that transport blood, lymph, or other fluids in an organism's body
3. Concerning the biological structure responsible for the circulation of fluids, including blood and lymph, within living tissues

Etymology: "Vascular" is a scientific coinage, not an ancient one. It was formed in New Latin, the Latin used by early modern scholars and naturalists, from "vasculāris", which itself derives from the Latin "vasculum", a small container. That word is a diminutive of "vas", meaning "vessel" or "container", so the English adjective carries the sense of "little vessel" built into its core. The chain runs from a general word for any jar, dish or receptacle to a precise anatomical term. Latin "vas" covered everything from pots to ships, and the diminutive "vasculum" narrowed it to small containers. When scholars needed a label for the tubes that carry fluids through plants and animals, they reached for this diminutive and gave it a Latin adjectival ending, producing a technical term rather than a word with everyday roots.

Synonyms: circulatory, blood vessel-related, vascularized, arterial, vein-related

Antonyms: avascular, non-vascular