-coelecomb. form
Primary stress is retained by the usual stressed syllable of the preceding element and vowels may be reduced accordingly.
Origin: A borrowing from Greek. Etymon: Greek κοῖλος.
Etymology: < ancient Greek κοῖλος hollow (also as noun, κοῖλον , cavity of the body) (see cœlo- comb. form1).Formations are found from the second half of the 19th cent., e.g. pseudocoel n., epicoele n. English words ending in -coele, -coel denoting worms are found from about the same time. These are consistently borrowings < scientific Latin formations in -coela, an element forming genus names of flatworms (ultimately < the same Greek word).
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
comb. form