acro-, acr-

A thickening of the skin of the head, the scalp, and of the hands and feet: Acropachyderma affects the bones of the limbs with the clubbing of the fingers and deformities in the limb bones.

Paralysis of the extremities: Acroparalysis affects only the limbs, including the hands and feet.

1. Disease marked by attacks of tingling in the outer parts of the body: Dr. Jones, the doctor who specialized in tropical diseases, was puzzled by the acroparesthesia Norbert had because the symptoms did not match those of any known diseases.
2. Numbness, tingling, and/or other abnormal sensations of the extremities, for example the fingers, hands, forearms, and toes and is usually due to a carpal tunnel syndrome: Acroparesthesia can also arise from other causes and seen frequently in organic disorders, especially in peripheral nerve lesions.

There are times when acroparessthesia refers only to those unpleasant sensations that occur without any known demonstrable organic basis.

The study of diseases that affect the extremities, such as the hands, fingers, feet, and toes: Because hands and fingers are so frequently used and are susceptible to injury, including cuts, burns, bites, fractures, and even tendon injuries, the research dealing with acropathology is quite important in finding cures for such ailments.

Acropathology also involves the feet and toes. Such ailments are athlete's foot, a fungal infection that primarily affects the skin between the toes and causes itchiness, sores, and cracked skin, and affects ingrown toenails of the big toes resulting in inflammation of the surrounding tissue.

A condition specifically affecting the extremities: Characteristics of acropathy include the thickening and widening of the nail beds of the fingers or toes causing the nails to be abnormally curved and shiny.

In botany, referring to the upward progression of growth from the base toward the apex or tip: Janet watched the acropetal development of the tulip plants that she had bought.

Descriptive of how a plant's leaves and blossoms grow in an upward direction towards the apex: The flowers opened acropetally one after the other in sequence until they reached the top of the plant.

Pertaining to a form of life that has a strong preference for staying in lofty peaks rather than living in the lowlands: In the book Susan was reading, there was an article about plants and animals that selected high altitudes to dwell, and they were referred to as being acrophilous organisms.

A person who is excessively afraid of being in high places: Jane was the only one in her family who was an acrophobe because she suffered greatly when being in lofty heights, so she never went mountain climbing with the rest of her family

An excessive discomfort of heights, elevators, climbing ladders, pinnacles, etc.; a dread of sharp points: Acrophobia is one of the most common fears among people.

Those who have acrophobia are afraid of being on high floors of buildings or even on the tops of hills or mountains and they often feel overly anxious when they approach the edge of bridges, rooftops, stairwells, and railings.

Sometimes individuals who are afflicted with acrophobia not only have an excessive fear, but they feel an uncontrollable urge to jump off.

There are some people who suffer from acrophobia and also have fantasies and physical sensations of falling even when they are standing on firm ground.

Those who are affected by acrophobia in moving platforms for people, or on escalators, balconies, and stairways, are probably fearful of altitudes just as they are with the terror of flying in aircraft.

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Pertaining to a word in which the name of it refers to an alphabetical symbol representing the initial sound of that word; acrophonic: Patty had a book that was full of acrophonetic terms, as "apron" to stand for "a" which is also pronounced like the first letter of the alphabet.

Another acrophonetic term is "bravo" which represents the letter "b".

Referring to the use of symbols to represent sounds: An acrophonic alphabet is one that uses pictographs to represent the aword beginning with the sound of that letter.

The Greek, Hebrew, and Roman alphabets were derived from the early acrophonic alphabet of Canaanites.

The sound of the "initial" or "beginning" of what was originally a picture-symbol or hieroglyph of an object to represent phonetically the initial syllable or sound of the name of the object; One example of acrophony can be the employment of the symbol of an ox, aleph, to represent the syllable or letter.

An acrophony can be said to be the naming of a letter by a word whose initial sound is the same as that which the letter represents.

A plant growing at a high altitude; an alpine plant: Some types of acrophyte vegetation that thrives above the tree line in very high places include the cushion plants, mosses, lichens, perennial grasses, and sedges.

An abnormal or unnatural colouring of the hands or feet: Acropigmentation is a hyperpigmentation of the dorsal surfaces of the fingers and toes beginning in early childhood and usually increasing with age.

Acropigmentation is more common in persons of dark complexion.