cephal-

American  

1. variant of cephalo- before a vowel.

   cephalate.

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Usage

What does cephal- mean? Cephal- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “head.” It is often used in medical and scientific terms. Cephal- comes from the Greek kephalḗ, meaning “head.”Cephal- is a variant of cephalo-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use cephalo- article. Corresponding forms of cephalo- combined to the end of words are -cephaly, -cephalic, and -cephalous, which you can learn more about in our Words That Use articles for each form. Also deriving from kephalḗ are the combining forms encephalo- and encephal-, meaning “brain.” Discover how these forms are used in our Words That Use encephalo- and encephal- articles.