Tackling The Veterinary Terminology: Suffixes (-cyte)

Remember the Spelling Bee? Big words are easier to tackle when you understand how they're put together. Veterinary terms are composed in the same way. Just like with other words, the main parts of a veterinary term are a prefix, a root, and a suffix. The difference is that they typically come more directly from Greek or Latin.

The suffix is the bit that will tell you about what procedure, condition, disease or disorder you're dealing with.

-cyte [sīt] New Latin from Greek - cell

Nice and a straightforward, the suffix -cyte means cell, which is further identified by the root. There is a very similar prefix, which has the same meaning, example being cytology, the study of cells.

There are many different types of cells in the body, with different functions.

We've already mentioned erythrocytes, red blood cells, and  thrombocytes, platelets. Adipocytes are fat-storing cells, hepatocytes are specialized cells in the liver, leukocytes are white blood cells, lymphocytes are type of white blood cells, typically found in the lymphatic system, and so on.

Cells are the basic structural and functional units of your dog's body.

It is cells that make up the tissues, and perform functions such as growth, reproduction or metabolism; that's where it all happens. Quite an amazing stuff, really. Sadly, one doesn't hear about them, until something goes wrong.



***

Related articles:
Veterinary Suffixes (-itis)
Veterinary Suffixes (-oma) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-pathy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-osis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-iasis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-tomy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-ectomy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-scopy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-emia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-penia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-rrhea)