"type of large white blood cell with the power to devour foreign debris in the body or other cells or organisms," 1890, from macro- "large" + -phage "eater."
Entries linking to macrophage
macro-
word-forming element meaning "long, abnormally large, on a large scale," taken into English via French and Medieval Latin from Greek makros "long, large," from PIE root *mak- "long, thin."
-phage
word-forming element meaning "eater," from stem of Greek phagein "to eat," from PIE root *bhag- "to share out, apportion; to get a share."