An enzyme that breaks down or catalyzes reactions involving cells or cellular material.
From Greek 'kytos' (cell) + '-ase' (enzyme suffix). The '-ase' suffix became standard in enzyme naming in the late 1800s when biochemistry emerged.
The '-ase' naming convention is genius—every enzyme name ending in '-ase' tells you immediately it's an enzyme, and many tell you what they act on (like lipase breaks down fats, and protease breaks down proteins).
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