You guys know by now how much I like Latin and Greek word roots. I think they can really help you understand and remember diseases, especially when they occur in many disease names.

Here’s the etymology of telangiectasia, along with some other examples using the same word roots.

Telangiectasia comes from three Greek words:

• τέλος (telos): “end” (For example: telomeres are the little things on the ends of chromosomes.)
• ἀγγεῖον (angeion): “vessel” (angio- is almost always used to indicate a blood vessel. For example: an angiogram is an imaging study that looks at blood vessels.)
• ἐκτείνειν (ekteinein): “to extend” (any time you see ectasia or ectasis, it means an abnormal dilation of a tubular structure. For example: bronchiectasis means dilation of bronchi.)

So telangiectasias are abnormal dilations of the very ends (tiny capillaries or venules) of blood vessels.