A blood clot, air bubble, or other substance that travels through blood vessels and can lodge in a vessel, blocking blood flow.
From Greek 'embolos' (wedge, peg, something inserted). The medical term preserves the original meaning of something wedged into a space.
A heart attack or stroke often happens because of an 'embolus'—a tiny Greek word for 'wedge' that doctors still use when describing one of medicine's most dangerous emergencies!
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