The Rice University Neologisms Database

Etymology : This word was created by the Kirienko Lab at Rice. It was created in parallel to flow cytometry, a widespread experimental technique that can characterize chemical and physical properties of cells and separate them based off of these characteristics. FLow Cytometry was agreed on as the name for the technology at a 1976 conference. Flow Vermimetry was coined fairly recently. The word flow comes from the verb flow through conversion, which comes from the Old English word flowan, from Proto-germanic “flowan,” which means “to flow.” This can be traced back to the PIE root “pleu-” to flow. The word vermimetry is less common, a creation from the root “verm” plus the root and suffix “metry,” which means “a measuring of.” “metry” comes from the PIE root “me-” “to measure” through Greek, then Latin, then Middle French. “Verm” comes from the latin vermis, which means worm, from the PIE word wrmi “worm.”