Editing Platelet (section)

== Term ==
The term ''thrombocyte'' (clot cell) came into use in the early 1900s and is sometimes used as a synonym for platelet; but not generally in the scientific literature, except as a root word for other terms related to platelets (e.g. ''thrombocytopenia'' meaning low platelets).<ref name="Michelson" />{{rp|v3}} The term thrombocytes are proper for mononuclear cells found in the blood of non-mammalian vertebrates: they are the functional equivalent of platelets, but circulate as intact cells rather than cytoplasmic fragments of bone marrow megakaryocytes.<ref name="Michelson" />{{rp|3}}

In some contexts, the word ''thrombus'' is used interchangeably with the word ''clot'', regardless of its composition (white, red, or mixed). In other contexts it is used to contrast a normal from an abnormal clot: ''thrombus'' arises from physiologic hemostasis, ''thrombosis'' arises from a pathologic and excessive quantity of clot.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Furie B, Furie BC |date=August 2008 |title=Mechanisms of thrombus formation |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |volume=359 |issue=9 |pages=938–949 |doi=10.1056/NEJMra0801082 |pmid=18753650}}</ref> In a third context it is used to contrast the result from the process: ''thrombus'' is the result, ''thrombosis'' is the process.