Etymology

apheresis

A1P3H4E1R1E1S1I1S1

Today it means: Elision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of special from especial. Full definition →

Latin aphaeresis ← Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσῐς (aphaíresĭs) ← Proto-Indo-European *selh₁-der.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
  3. Proto-Hellenic*apó
  4. Ancient Greekᾰ̓πό (ăpó)
  5. Ancient Greekἀπο- (apo-)
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ser-der.?
  7. Proto-Indo-European*selh₁-der.?
  8. Ancient Greekαἱρέω (hairéō)
  9. Ancient Greekἀφαιρέω (aphairéō)
  10. Ancient Greekἀφαίρεσῐς (aphaíresĭs)
  11. Latinaphaeresis
  12. English todayapheresis

From Latin aphaeresis, from Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis, “a taking away”), from ἀφαιρέω (aphairéō) (from ἀφ- (aph-), variant of ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) before an aspirated vowel) + αἱρέω (hairéō, “to take; to snatch”)) + -σις (-sis, suffix forming nouns of action); the grammatical sense developed in Latin.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekἀφαίρεσις all →

plasmapheresis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.