"defective or arrested development of a body part," 1876, medical Latin, from Greek a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + -plasia "formation, growth, development." Related: Aplastic.
Entries linking to aplasia
a- 3
prefix meaning "not, without," from Greek a-, an- "not" (the "alpha privative"), from PIE root *ne- "not" (source also of English un-).
In words from Greek, such as abysmal, adamant, amethyst; also partly nativized as a prefix of negation (asexual, amoral, agnostic). The ancient alpha privatum, denoting want or absence.
Greek also had an alpha copulativum, a- or ha-, expressing union or likeness, which is the a- expressing "together" in acolyte, acoustic, Adelphi, etc. It is from PIE root *sem- (1) "one; as one, together with."
-plasia
word-forming element in biology and medicine denoting "formation, growth, development," from Modern Latin -plasia, from Greek plasis "molding, formation," from plassein "to mold" (see plasma).