A soft, thin piece of paper used for wiping your nose, face, or hands. In biology, it also means a group of similar cells in the body that work together to do a certain job.
From Old French 'tissue' meaning 'ribbon, woven cloth,' from Latin 'texere' (to weave). The biological sense comes from seeing cells as 'woven' together into structures. The paper product kept the idea of a delicate, thin fabric.
In your body, tissues are like fabrics made of living cells woven together—muscle tissue, nerve tissue, and so on. The paper tissues in a box borrow the same idea: thin, delicate sheets like cloth. One weaving metaphor stretches from microscopes to bathroom cabinets.
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