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Glite Dictionary
red marrow

red marrow

4.8
Soft part inside bones that makes red blood cells
  • noun
  • /rɛd ˈmɛroʊ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : médula ósea roja
  • Doctors often check the levels of red marrow when assessing a patient's overall blood health.

Examples

  • The red marrow found in the pelvis plays an essential role in generating new blood cells throughout life.

  • The majority of the bone metastases occur in bones containing the red marrow, predominantly such as the spine, ribs, pelvis, and ends of long bones.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The red marrow in children's bones is crucial for the production of red blood cells.

Synonyms

red bone marrow
vsred marrow
  • Specialized
4.9

Soft, spongy part inside some bones that makes red blood cells

is the same tissue named by its occurrence in children and some adult bones

How Productive

red marrow
  • Specialized
4.8
hypoplastic anemia
  • Specialized
8.2
aplastic anemia
  • Specialized
8 7.0

Surface Forms

red marrow singular
red marrows plural

Morphology

red + marrow

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'red' (the color) with 'marrow' (bone tissue that produces blood cells); it denotes the type of marrow that is red and produces red blood cells. This is a straightforward descriptive noun phrase following normal adjective + noun composition and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.

Etymology

Red marrow is a plain, descriptive name: marrow is the soft tissue inside bones and red shows it is the kind full of blood-making cells. So the term refers to the bone tissue that 'produces red blood cells'.