Tiny disc-shaped blood cells that help blood clot and stop bleeding when you get a cut.
From French 'platelet,' literally 'small plate' (diminutive of 'plate'). Medical terminology adopted the French anatomical term in the 1800s.
Platelets are actually fragments of a larger cell that purposely breaks apart in your bone marrow—your body deliberately smashes cells to create them, making them unique among blood components.
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