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Glite Dictionary
🌾 To cut with sickle 🌾 Cutting crops 🩸 Cells change shape
sickling

sickling

8.9
A process where red blood cells become C-shaped because of a blood disease
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪk.lɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sickling
  • Patients with sickle cell disease experience sickling of their red blood cells.

Examples

  • The laboratory test confirmed the presence of sickling in the patient's blood sample.

  • Doctors monitor sickling to assess the severity of sickle cell disease.

  • Frequent sickling can lead to blockages in blood vessels and cause pain.

  • The process of sickling can lead to severe health issues.

  • During a blood test, the doctor noticed signs of sickling in the patient's red blood cells, indicating a possible health issue.

  • The researcher studied the effects of sickle cell disease and observed sickling in many of the samples taken from affected individuals.

  • In sickle cell disease, the sickling of red blood cells can lead to various complications, including severe pain and organ damage.

Surface Forms

sickling singular
sicklings plural

Morphology

sickling = sickle (transparent) = sickle + ing

A regular -ing formation from the verb meaning 'to take on a sickle-shaped form'; the biomedical sense is a direct extension of that shape meaning.

Etymology

Sickling in medicine comes from sickle, the 'curved blade' whose shape looks like a crescent, and doctors used that image for cells. So sickling describes red blood cells changing into that curved, 'sickle' shape.