Meaning & use
thorac-
A combining form meaning relating to the thorax, or chest, used in medical terminology.
See it in a sentence
Doctors use the prefix thorac- to build words such as thoracic and thoracotomy, both related to the chest.
A thoracentesis, formed with thorac-, is a procedure that removes fluid from around the lungs.
A note on using this word
Thorac- comes from the Greek thorax, meaning chest or breastplate, and appears in many chest-related medical terms.
Words with a similar meaning
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