Atrophy
Gr. a = without, and trophe = nourishment. Used to refer to degenerated structures, such as muscles after prolonged physical inactivity.
Atropine
Gr.atropos = inflexible and L. atropa = deadly nightshade Atropine acts as a potent cholinergic antagonist (parasympatholytic), therefore leading to a dilatation of the pupils. In the Renaissance this effect was…
Autonomic
Gr. autos = self, and nomos = law. Hence the part of the nervous system which is self-controlled or autonomous.
Autopsy
Gr. autos = self, and opsis = to look at. In the third century B.C., the word autopsia denoted those observations on the patient made by the physician himself, in contrast to…
Azygos
Gr. a = not, and zygos = a yoke. Therefore, this applies to any unpaired or unyoked structure, such as the azygos vein or the azygos lobe of the lung.
Bacterium
L. bacterium is the latinisation of the Greek bakterion = staff, cane. The first bacteria observed by Dutch microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676, were rod-shaped. The term was introduced as a scientific word…
Biopsy
Gr. bios = life, and opsis = vision. Hence biopsy signifies an examination of tissue removed from the living body.
Botox
L. botulus = sausage, Gr. kloster = spindle. Botox, the brand name for botulinum toxin, is a neurotoxin produced by the 1895 isolated anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The term refers to…