Medical and Biological English Vocabulary Origins
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1. Neuroscience
⑴ alar plate
The word ‘alarm’ means a warning. The word ‘alarm’ can be divided into ‘Al’ + ‘arm’, meaning ‘the arm’. It originated from the meaning of taking up arms immediately, so fundamentally ‘alarm’ is related to ‘arm’ and can be seen as meaning weapon or arm. Therefore, ‘alar’ means arm, and ‘alar plate’ refers to the wing plate, that is, the plate structure in the armpit area.
⑵ anosmia
The word ‘dysosmia’ also refers to an olfactory disorder. The common suffix ‘osmia’ is related to ‘osmics’, which means smell, and considering that smell is a chemical sense and one important phenomenon in chemistry is osmosis, remembering this can be helpful.
⑶ arcuate fiber
The word ‘arch’ means bow-shaped or arcuate and is commonly used in architecture. Its adjectival form is ‘arcuate’, leading to the terms arcuate bundle, arcuate fibers, thus ‘arcuate fiber’.
⑷ cerebral aqueduct
‘Aqueduct’ refers to a conduit, aqueduct, etc., for supplying water. Analyzing the etymology, we find it combines ‘aqua’ meaning water and ‘duct’ meaning conduit or structure.
⑸ cerebral peduncle
Words with ‘ped-‘ imply leg. For example, ‘pedigree’, meaning a family tree or genealogy, is a word created thinking of lineage as similar to the leg of a crane, and ‘pedal’ in bicycles or cars refers to the point where the foot touches. ‘Peduncle’ is a less commonly used word, so just noticing its relation to the leg will easily remind one that ‘cerebral peduncle’ refers to the cerebral stalk.
⑹ commissural fiber
Commissural fibers refer to bundles of fibers that transversely connect the two hemispheres. Understanding this is not difficult if one knows that ‘commissure’ means seam. ‘Commissure’ originates from ‘com’ meaning together and ‘miss-‘, ‘mit-‘ meaning to meet.
2. Miscellaneous
⑴ barbituric acid: Adolf von Baeyer named this compound in honor of a woman named Barbara
⑵ cancer: The term comes from the Latin word cancrum, implying a hard lump spread out like a crab’s legs.
⑶ formic acid: Derived from the Latin word for ant, formica, as ants also secrete it.
⑷ glia: glue-like
⑸ lupus: wolf (similar pronunciation). Systemic lupus erythematosus is related to this.
⑹ morphine: Derived from Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams.
⑺ prion: protein + infection
⑻ osteo-: bone
⑼ -cyte: cell
⑽ ceteris paribus: other things being equal (shares roots with words like imparity)
Entered : 2018.07.11 20:50