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oste(o)-

The bones.

Greek osteon, bone.

Some relatively common instances from an extensive set of medical terms are osteopathy (Greek patheia, suffering, feeling), treatment of medical disorders through the manipulation and massage of the skeleton and musculature; osteoarthritis, degeneration of joint cartilage and the underlying bone, most common from middle age onward; osteoporosis (Greek poros, passage, pore), a condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of tissue; osteomyelitis, inflammation of bone or bone marrow, usually due to infection; osteology, the study of the structure and function of the skeleton and bony structures.

Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Your comments are very welcome.