Arterialise

/ɑːrˈtɪəriəlaɪz/ verb

Definition

British spelling: to convert venous blood to arterial blood, or to make something arterial in character.

Etymology

From arterial + -ise (British verbal suffix), where -ise comes from French -iser and ultimately Greek -ízein. The British spelling preserves the -ise ending while American English standardized to -ize.

Kelly Says

The verb arterialise describes what happens in your lungs—venous blood that has lost oxygen gets reoxygenated and becomes arterial blood, ready to deliver oxygen throughout your body, and this fundamental biological process differs only in spelling conventions between British and American medicine.

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