dialysis

Dated in the late 16th century C.E.; from Latin dialysis, from Ancient Greek διάλυσις (diálusis). By surface analysis, dia- +‎ -lysis.

• IPA^(key): /daɪˈælɪsɪs/
• Hyphenation: di‧al‧y‧sis

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dialysis (countable and uncountable, plural dialyses)

1. (chemistry) A method of separating molecules or particles of different sizes by differential diffusion through a semipermeable membrane.
2. (medicine) Use of this method for removal of waste products from the blood in the case of kidney failure: hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

   Coordinate term: artificial kidney

   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

3. (rhetoric) The spelling out of alternatives, or presenting of either-or arguments that lead to a conclusion.
4. (rhetoric) Asyndeton.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “dialysis”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Silva Rhetoricae

From Ancient Greek διάλυσις (diálusis).

dialysis f (genitive dialysis or dialyseōs or dialysios); third declension

1. separation

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem, i-stem).

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

• “dialysis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press