histopathology
Word family
- histopathologicaladjectiveC1
- histopathologistnounC1
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
Histopathology sits within pathology, the broader medical field that studies all aspects of disease. While pathology covers everything from blood tests to autopsies, histopathology focuses narrowly on examining tissue samples under a microscope. Histology, by contrast, is the study of healthy tissue structure — it looks at how normal cells are arranged, not at disease. Cytopathology is the microscopic study of individual cells (often collected through smears or fluid samples) rather than whole tissue sections. In practice, a histopathology report is what a surgeon waits for after removing a lump: it tells them whether the cells are cancerous and how aggressive the disease looks.
Common collocations
Nouns
- histopathology report
- histopathology department
- histopathology laboratory
- histopathology slide
Etymology
Formed in English from the Greek roots histo- meaning 'tissue' and pathology meaning 'the study of disease'. The term came into use in the late 19th century as microscopes became powerful enough to examine thin slices of tissue for signs of illness.