The building blocks of English

Affixes

telo-

Also teleo‑.

End; purpose.

Greek telos, end.

A telomere (Greek meros, part) is a compound structure at the end of a chromosome; a telogen is the resting phase of a hair follicle; the telophase is the final phase of cell division; the adjective telolecithal (Greek lekithos, egg yolk), refers to an egg or egg cell that has a large yolk situated at or near one end.

Examples spelled teleo‑ are rarer: teleology is the explanation of phenomena by the purpose they serve rather than by postulated causes; teleonomy is an impression of purpose in living organisms as a result of adaptation through natural selection. For another sense of this spelling, see teleo‑.