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-pexy
- a combining form meaning "solidity," used in the formation of compound words:
rheopexy; mastopexy.
Word History and Origins
Origin of -pexy1
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Words That Use -pexy
What does -pexy mean?
The combining form -pexy is used like a suffix meaning “solidity.” It is often used in medical terms, especially in surgery for procedures that fix an organ into place.
The form -pexy comes from the Greek pêxis, meaning “a fixing, solidity.” Fixing, here, means “securing into place”—or, with the meaning and sense of -pexy in mind, “putting into a solid position.”
Examples of -pexy
One example of the combining form -pexy is gastropexy, meaning “the surgical attachment of the stomach to the abdominal wall or to the diaphragm.”
The first element of the word, gastro-, may look familiar; it means “stomach.” As we now know, -pexy refers to surgical fixation. So, gastropexy, in other words, is “a fixing of the stomach.”
What are some words that use the combining form –pexy?
What are some other forms that -pexy may be commonly confused with?
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