haema-

Haema- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “blood.” It is used in some medical terms, especially in pathology.

Haema- comes from the Greek haîma, meaning “blood.”

Chiefly used in British English, the combining form haema- is a variant of hema-, itself a rare variant of hemo- before a vowel.

Want to know more? Read our Words That Use hema- and hemo- articles. 

Historically, haema- has been written as hæma-, featuring a ligature of the a and e.

Other variants of haema- used like hemo- are hem-, hemat-, and hemato-. As with haema-, all of these combining forms are often spelled with an additional a in British English, as in haem-, haemo-, haemat-, and haemato-.

Also closely related to haema- are -aemia, -emia, -haemia, and -hemia, which are combined to the ends of words to denote blood conditions.

You can learn all about the specific applications for each of these forms at our Words That Use articles for them.

One example of a medical term that features the combining form haema- is haemacytometer, also known as a hemocytometer, meaning “an instrument for counting blood cells.”

The haema- part of haemacytometer means “blood.” The second part of the word, cyto-, is a combining form that means “cell.” The final part of the word, -meter, means “measure.” Haemacytometer literally translates to “blood cell measurer.” (A haemocyte is a technical term for a blood cell.)

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

• haemachromatosis
• haemafibrite
• haematherm

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

• chaeto-
• chemi–
• chemo-
• chromato-
• hemangio-
• hemi-
• homo-
• homeo-
• stomato-

The combining form -therm means “hot, heat.” An animal described as a haematherm would be:

A. cold-blooded

B. warm-blooded