lymph-
1 Americannoun
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Anatomy, Physiology. a clear yellowish, slightly alkaline, coagulable fluid, containing white blood cells in a liquid resembling blood plasma, that is derived from the tissues of the body and conveyed to the bloodstream by the lymphatic vessels.
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Archaic. the sap of a plant.
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Archaic. a stream or spring of clear, pure water.
noun
Usage
What does lymph- mean? Lymph- is a combining form used like a prefix indicating lymph, an important liquid in the body that contains white blood cells and is conveyed to the bloodstream through lymphatic vessels. Lymph- is used in many medical terms, especially in anatomy and pathology.Lymph- comes from the Latin lympha, meaning “water.” This Latin root has been connected to the Greek word nýmphē, source of nymph in English. Discover more at our entry for nymph.Lymph- is a variant of lympho-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels.Want to know more? Read our Words That Use lympho- article.Closely related to lymph- and lympho- is lymphangi-, a combining form meaning “lymph vessel” and connected to the combining form angio-.
Etymology
Origin of lymph
1620–30; < Latin lympha water (earlier *limpa; limpid ); pseudo-Greek form, by association with nympha < Greek nýmphē nymph
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After an operation to remove an 18 inch tumour in 2022, one year later Clare was told the bowel cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lungs, and had developed to stage four.
From BBC
"So they had to go in and reconstruct that and also fix my lymph nodes that had been damaged during the first surgery."
From BBC
These included a mastectomy and lymph node procedure performed in 28 minutes, and an excision of benign thickened breast tissue in 10 minutes, "which the review team considered to have been unnecessary".
From BBC
Some activity was also detected in nearby lymph nodes.
From Science Daily
Although his cancer has not spread to distant body parts, it had spread to nearby lymph nodes.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.