Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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cryo-

Involving or producing cold.

[Greek kruos, frost.]

The usual adjective relating to very low temperatures is cryogenic, as in cryogenic freezing, in which tissues or foodstuffs are plunged into liquid nitrogen to preserve them; a cryostat maintains materials at a predefined low temperature; cryogenics is the study of materials at very low temperatures; cryosurgery uses intense cold to free and kill unwanted tissue; the cryosphere is that part of the planet that experiences persistent low temperatures, say at the poles or at high altitudes.

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