Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Leukocyte
/ˈluːkəsaɪt/noun
A white blood cell, part of the body's defence against infection.
The Greek roots
λευκός
leukós
white, bright
κύτος
kýtos
hollow vessel
Literally: “white hollow vessel”
The story of the word
Λευκός is not simply white but bright and clear, the word Homer uses of gleaming water. Virchow named the disease Leukämie in 1847 after seeing blood in which the pale layer had swamped the red, and leukocyte followed as the name for the cells themselves. They are the only blood cells that keep their nucleus and the only ones that leave the vessels deliberately, squeezing between the cells of the wall to reach the trouble.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- late 19th century
Same family
leukemialeukoplakiaerythrocytecytology
In a sentence
A raised leukocyte count sent them looking for the infection.
Chemotherapy knocks the leukocytes down along with the tumour.