Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Hematoma
/ˌhiːməˈtəʊmə/noun
A pocket of blood that has collected outside the vessels after an injury.
The Greek roots
αἷμα
haîma
blood
-ωμα
-ōma
swelling, growth
Literally: “blood swelling”
The story of the word
The Greek ending -ωμα only marked the result of an action, as in τραῦμα, a wound, or πτῶμα, something fallen. Nineteenth-century medicine narrowed it to swellings and tumours, which is why a hematoma sounds more sinister than the pooled blood of a hard tackle usually is. American spelling trims the ae of haematoma to a plain e, the same tidying that gives anemia and esophagus.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
hemorrhageanemiahemoglobincarcinoma
In a sentence
The thigh hematoma kept him out for six weeks.
A subdural hematoma can announce itself days after the fall that caused it.