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Glite Dictionary
teratoma

teratoma

2 9.9
An unusual growth made of different body tissues like hair or bone
  • noun
  • /ˌtɛrəˈtoʊmə/
  • Specialized
: teratoma
  • After several tests, the doctor diagnosed her with a teratoma that contained hair and muscle tissue.

I said, oh, OK, well, what we think this is is a teratoma.

Examples

  • I believe you are referring to a teratoma.

    Blog text (12)

  • There is no way a teratoma can ever become a person because it is not set up to become one.

    Blog text (12)

  • So Dr. Fields, Dr. Gregory, and myself have concluded the only way to save Emily is to excise the teratoma.

    Malignant (2021)

  • Donna was born with a coccygeal immature teratoma; she's six now and appears to be cured.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The surgeons performed a successful removal of the teratoma from the patient's abdomen.

  • His MRI scan revealed a teratoma, which puzzled the doctors due to its unusual composition.

Synonyms

neoplasm
vsteratoma
  • Specialized
2 8.6

A group of extra cells that forms a lump and may be cancer

is a specific kind made of several different tissue types not just any tumor

Surface Forms

teratoma singular
teratomas plural

Morphology

teratoma = terat + oma

This is a specialized medical term built from classical elements, so an average B1 learner is unlikely to infer its meaning from ordinary English word knowledge.

Etymology

Teratoma comes from the Greek root teras meaning 'monster' and the medical ending -oma meaning 'tumor'. So a teratoma is like a 'monster tumor' because it can contain many different tissues, such as hair, teeth, or bone.