parenchyma
/pəˈɹɛŋ.kɪm.ə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.14 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The functional tissue of an organ as distinguished from the connective and supporting tissue.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Previously blood and air had been thought to mingle freely in the fleshy parenchyma of the lungs, but the microscope now revealed the membranous alveoli at the ends of the tracheo-bronchial ramifications."
- "[I]n a Sponge, the Parenchyma, it seems, is but a kind of mucous gelly, which is very easily and cleerly wash'd away."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek παρέγχῠμα (parénkhŭma, “anything poured in beside”), from πᾰρᾰ- (pără-, “beside”) + ἔγχῠμα (énkhŭma, “instillation, content of a vessel”), given by the Greek anatomist Erasistratus to the peculiar substance of the lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen, as if formed separately by the veins that run into them. By surface analysis, para- + -enchyma.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: παρέγχῠμα
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.