hematology
heh-MAT-oh-loh-jee
Medical/scientific discipline term
The science of blood; the branch of medicine concerned with blood, blood-forming tissues, and blood disorders
Literally: study of blood
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| hemat- | Blood | Greek (hem, -a, -ato, =ia, -o) | Combining form hemato- is the extended stem of Greek haima (αἷμα); the diphthong ai is dropped in Latinized spelling to give hemat- |
| -o- | Connecting vowel | Embedded in the combining form hemato-; links the first element to the suffix | |
| -logy | A word, discourse, study of | Greek (log, -o, =us, =y) | Via suffix -ology (the science of); the -o- is the connecting vowel of logo- |
Purely Greek compound: hemato- (combining form of haima, blood) + -logy (from logos, study/discourse) joined by the connecting vowel -o- already embedded in hemato-. The term functions as a feminine noun in scientific and medical English. There is no binomial genus–epithet relationship; this is a single-word discipline name.
Pronunciation
- heh-MAT-oh-loh-jee Antepenult rule: the penult syllable (lo) has a short vowel followed by only one consonant, so stress retreats to the antepenult (mat)
Other readings
hemo- + -logy is an alternative shorter combining form of the same root (hemo-logy), used in some derivatives such as hemology, but hematology is the standard medical form
hematology is not a biological binomial but a Greek-derived medical discipline name formed entirely from Greek elements The suffix -ology is listed in the dictionary (id 4290) as 'the science of', confirming the standard segmentation In natural connected speech the third syllable -o- is commonly reduced to schwa: hɛˌmætəˈlɒdʒi