Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Apoptosis
/ˌæpəˈtoʊsɪs/noun
The orderly self-destruction of a cell on the body's own instructions.
The Greek roots
ἀπό
apó
away from, off
πτῶσις
ptôsis
a falling
Literally: “a falling away”
The story of the word
Kerr, Wyllie and Currie needed a name in 1972 for cells that dismantle themselves neatly instead of bursting. They asked James Cormack, professor of Greek at Aberdeen, who offered ἀπόπτωσις, the word used of leaves dropping from a tree and petals from a flower. He also asked that the second p stay silent, as it does in ptosis. Half the field says it anyway.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1972
Same family
ptosissymptomapostropheapostasy
In a sentence
Tadpole tails disappear by apoptosis, not by wearing away.
Many cancers survive by switching apoptosis off.