Lipoma
/lɪˈpoʊ.mə/noun
A benign fatty tumor made of fat cells.
Did you know?Lipoma comes from Greek medical vocabulary built on lipos, “fat,” a root that also appears in words for oils and fats across the Indo-European family.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
λίπος (lipos)
“fat, grease”
Late Greek / Medical Greek
Greek
λίπωμα (lipōma)
“a fatty swelling or lump”
Late Latin
Latin
lipoma
“a fatty tumor”
19th Century
English
lipoma
“a fatty tumor or benign fatty growth”
Modern English
English
lipoma
“a benign tumor composed of fat tissue”
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