What does sarco mean?

• A. Hard
• B. Red
• C. Flesh
• D. Instrument to examine

Answer: (C)

sarco- comes from the Greek word sarx, meaning flesh. This combining form signals that the term it appears in relates to flesh or soft tissue. That’s why you’ll see it in words like sarcoma, a malignant tumor arising from connective tissue; sarcolemma, the membrane surrounding a muscle cell; and sarcoplasm, the cytoplasm of a muscle fiber. The meaning isn’t about something hard, a color, or an instrument to examine—those would come from other roots like scler- for hard, erythro- or ruber- for red, or scope/scop- for an instrument to view.