Sickle Cell
/ˈsɪk.əl sɛl/noun
A red blood cell that is abnormally crescent-shaped, especially in sickle cell disease.
Did you know?The name is modern medical English, coined from the sickle-shaped crescent of the cells; the eerie part is that the same shape became a diagnostic image long before the disease’s genetic cause was understood.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
sicol
“a sickle, a curved reaping tool”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*sikilaz
“sickle, reaping hook”
Modern English
English
sickle
“a curved agricultural blade used for cutting grain”
20th Century
English
sickle cell
“a red blood cell shaped like a sickle, used in the name of the blood disorder and the cell shape itself”
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