"surgical operation to remove the appendix," 1891, a hybrid from appendix in the anatomical sense + -ectomy "a cutting, surgical removal."
Entries linking to appendectomy
appendix n.
1540s, "subjoined addition to a document or book," from Latin appendix "an addition, continuation, something attached," from appendere "cause to hang (from something)," from ad "to" (see ad-) + pendere "to hang" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin").
It has been used for "small outgrowth of an internal organ" from 1610s, especially in reference to the vermiform appendix. This sense in English is perhaps from or influenced by French, where the word was in use in anatomy from 1540s.
-ectomy
word-forming element meaning "surgical removal," from Latinized form of Greek -ektomia "a cutting out of," from ektemnein "to cut out," from ek "out" (see ex-) + temnein "to cut" (from PIE root *tem- "to cut").