azygous
- adjective
- /əˈzaɪɡəs/
- Specialized
- The azygous vein is an important structure that drains blood from the thoracic wall.
Examples
-
My hunches at this point are a total anomalous pulmonary venous connection either to the vertical vein or to the azygous vein.
Academic text (1990) -
13, 14 Somatostatin and its synthetic analogue octreotide are effective in reducing hepatic blood flow, wedged hepatic venous pressure, and azygous blood flow.
Academic text (1995) -
In some patients, an azygous anatomical arrangement can complicate surgical procedures.
-
The doctor explained that the azygous system helps to bypass obstructions in the venous system.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A body part that is alone and has no matching part on the other side
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A vein on the right chest near the spine that carries blood to the large vein above the heart
Surface Forms
Morphology
azygous = zygous (opaque) = a + zyg + ous
Formed by negating the technical combining-adjective 'zygous' (paired); because 'zygous' is a specialized, low-frequency biological form, the negated meaning is not directly inferable by average learners.
Etymology
The word azygous comes from the parts a- 'not' and zygous, a root that refers to a 'yoke' or joining two things. Because a 'yoke' joins a pair, azygous means 'not joined', so it describes a single or unpaired body part.