word-forming element meaning "a growth, a development; something molded," from Greek -plasma, from plasma "something molded or created" (see plasma).
Entries linking to -plasm
plasma n.
1712, "form, shape" (a sense now obsolete), a more classical form of earlier plasm; from Late Latin plasma, from Greek plasma "something molded or created," hence "image, figure; counterfeit, forgery; formed style, affectation," from plassein "to mold," originally "to spread thin," from PIE *plath-yein, from root *pele- (2) "flat; to spread."
Sense of "the liquid part of blood, etc., as distinguished from the corpuscles" is from 1845. In physics, the sense of "ionized gas" is by 1928.
cytoplasm n.
"protoplasm, organic substance forming the essential constituent of cells," 1870, from cyto- "cell" + -plasm. Related: Cytoplasmic.