apheresis

Meanings

1. Elision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of special from especial.
2. The removal of blood from a patient, and the removal of certain components (such as platelets) from that blood, followed by the transfusion of the filtered blood back to the donor (patient).
3. Extirpation or extraction of a superfluity (especially a pathological one) from the body, especially blood.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πο- (ăpo-) Proto-Indo-European *ser-der.? Proto-Indo-European *selh₁-der.? Ancient Greek αἱρέω (hairéō) Ancient Greek ἀφαιρέω (aphairéō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσῐς (aphaíresĭs)der. Latin aphaeresisder. English apheresis From Latin aphaeresis, from Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis, “a taking away”), from ἀφαιρέω (aphairéō) (from ἀφ- (aph-), variant of ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) before an aspirated vowel) + αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; to snatch”)) + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action); the grammatical sense developed in Latin.