-cyte

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variant of cyto- as final element in a compound word: leucocyte.

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Words nearby -cyte

cystoscopy, cystostomy, cystotomy, cytarabine, cytaster, -cyte, Cythera, Cytherea, Cytherean, cytidine, cytidine monophosphate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

WORDS THAT USE -CYTE

What does -cyte mean?

The combining form -cyte is used like a suffix meaning “cell.” It is often used in medical and scientific terms, especially to name different types of cells.

The form -cyte comes from the Greek kýtos, meaning “container,” “receptacle,” “body.”

A corresponding form of -cyte combined to the beginning of words is cyto-, which you can learn more about at our Words That Use article for the form.

Examples of -cyte

One example of a medical term that features the combining form -cyte is hemocyte, “a blood cell.”

The first part of the word, hemo-, means “blood.” As we’ve seen, -cyte means “cell.” Hemocyte literally translates to, well, “blood cell.”

A leukocyte is a white blood cell (leuko- meaning “white”). An erythrocyte is a red blood cell (erythro- meaning “red”).

What are some words that use the combining form -cyte?

What are some other forms that -cyte may be commonly confused with?

Break it down!

The combining form hepato- refers to the liver. What is a hepatocyte?

How to use -cyte in a sentence

Yet notwithstanding so long a residence in the Low Countries, he describes himself as “mercer of ye cyte of London.”
The Story of Books|Gertrude Burford Rawlings
Stonde vp/ take thy wyfe and thy two doughters and that that is at hande/ lest thou perish in the synne of the cyte.
The First Boke of Moses called Genesis|William Tyndale
And all the menchildern were circumcysed whatsoeuer went out at the gates of his cyte.
The First Boke of Moses called Genesis|William Tyndale
And vnto Hemor and Sichem his sonne harkened all that went out at the gate of his cyte.
The First Boke of Moses called Genesis|William Tyndale

Th Hemor and Sichem went vnto the gate of their cyte/ and comened with the men of their cyte saynge.
The First Boke of Moses called Genesis|William Tyndale

British Dictionary definitions for -cyte

-cyte

n combining form

indicating a cellspermatocyte

Word Origin for -cyte

from New Latin -cyta, from Greek kutos container, body, hollow vessel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012