Meanings
plural aphereses · alternative Canada UK aphaeresis · alternative archaic aphæresis
- CanadaUScountablespecificuncountablestill currentmedicineThe removal of blood from a patient, and the removal of certain components (such as platelets) from that blood, followed by the transfusion of the filtered blood back to the donor (patient).
Synonyms: pheresis, hemapheresis
- CanadaUScountablegeneralobsoleteuncountablemedicineExtirpation or extraction of a superfluity (especially a pathological one) from the body, especially blood.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounElision, suppression, or complete loss of a letter or sound (syllable) from the beginning of a word, such as the development of special from especial.
nounThe removal of blood from a patient, and the removal of certain components (such as platelets) from that blood, followed by the transfusion of the filtered blood back to the donor (patient).
More synonyms by meaning
noun(linguistics) omission at the beginning of a word as in ‘coon’ for ‘raccoon’ or ‘till’ for ‘until’
nouna procedure in which blood is drawn and separated into its components by dialysis; some are retained and the rest are returned to the donor by transfusion
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
- Proto-Hellenic*apó
- Ancient Greekᾰ̓πό (ăpó)
- Ancient Greekἀπο- (apo-)
- Proto-Indo-European*ser-der.?
- Proto-Indo-European*selh₁-der.?
- Ancient Greekαἱρέω (hairéō)
- Ancient Greekἀφαιρέω (aphairéō)
- Ancient Greekἀφαίρεσῐς (aphaíresĭs)
- Latinaphaeresis
- Englishapheresis
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.
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀφαίρεσις
- ἀφαίρεσις (aphaíresis)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Bulgarian афереза, афереза
- афереза (afereza)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- афереза (afereza)medicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Catalan afèresi, afèresi
- afèresiloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- afèresimedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Czech afereze
- aferezeloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Danish afærese
- afæreseloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Dutch aferesis, aferese
- aferesisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- afereseloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Finnish afereesi, afereesi
- afereesiloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- afereesimedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
French aphérèse, aphérèse
- aphérèseloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- aphérèsemedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
German Aphärese, Aphäresis
- Aphäreseloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- Aphäresisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- Apheresemedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Greek αφαίρεση
- αφαίρεση (afaíresi)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Hungarian aferézis
- aferézisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Irish aifiréis
- aifiréisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Italian aferesi, aferesi
- aferesiloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- aferesimedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Korean 체외채혈
- 체외채혈 (che-oechaehyeol)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Latin aphaeresis, ablatio
- aphaeresisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- ablatioloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Persian سرزدایی, حذف آغازی
- سرزدایی (sarzodāyī)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- حذف آغازی (hazf-e āġāzī)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Polish afereza, afereza
- aferezaloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- aferezamedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Portuguese aférese, aférese
- aféreseloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- aféresemedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Romanian afereză
- aferezăloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Russian афере́з
- афере́з (aferéz)loss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Slovak aferéza
- aferézaloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Spanish aféresis
- aféresisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Swedish aferes
- aferesmedicine: removal, filtering and returning of blood
Tagalog pagpupugot, aperesis
- pagpupugotloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
- aperesisloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Welsh blaendoriad
- blaendoriadloss of letters or sounds from the beginning of a word
Cite this entry
apheresis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apheresis
“apheresis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apheresis. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apheresis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apheresis.
Source: apheresis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.