poikilo-
Variegated; variable.
[Greek poikilos, variegated, varied.]
In medicine, poikilocytosis (Greek kutos, vessel) is the presence of abnormally shaped red cells (poikilocytes) in the blood; poikiloderma (Greek derma, dermat-, skin, hide) is a condition in which the skin atrophies and becomes pigmented, giving it a mottled appearance. A poikilotherm (Greek thermē, heat) is a cold-blooded organism, which cannot regulate its body temperature except by behavioural means such as basking or burrowing; in geology, poikiloblastic (Greek blastos, germ, sprout) denotes the texture of a metamorphic rock in which small crystals of an original mineral occur within crystals of its metamorphic product.
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