myo-

DEFINITION of myo-

In medical and biological terminology, myo‑ (or my‑ before a vowel) is a combining form that denotes a relationship to skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscle tissue, including its structure, function, and diseases. It appears in compound words such as myocardium (heart muscle), myopathy (muscle disease), myalgia (muscle pain), myositis (muscle inflammation), and myology (the study of muscles), where it signals that the term concerns muscle or muscle‑related processes.

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ETYMOLOGY of myo-

latin - Immediate origin: International Scientific Vocabulary, from New Latin combining form myo‑.

• Deeper origin: From Ancient Greek μῦς (mŷs), which means both “muscle” and “mouse.”
• The “mouse” connection reflects an ancient image: some muscles (like the biceps) were thought to look and move like a small mouse under the skin, so the same Greek word served for both “mouse” and “muscle”; the combining form from this root became myo‑ in medical vocabulary.

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RELATED TERMS to myo-

Term	Meaning	Prefix/Suffix?	Notes
myo-	muscle‑related	-	-
Myopathy	Disease of muscle tissue	myo- (muscle) + -pathos (disease)	-
Myalgia	Muscle pain	my- (muscle) + -algos (pain)	-

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DERIVATIONS of myo-

TABLE definition AS Definition
FROM #medroot
WHERE length(filter(roots, (word) => econtains([[]].roots, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name
SORT file.name ASC

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Query functionality

TABLE definition AS Definition
FROM #medroot
WHERE length(filter(definition, (word) => econtains([[]].definition, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name

Med roots dictionary