Plain English Meaning
The substance in your blood that picks up oxygen from your lungs and delivers it to the rest of your body.
Full Definition
An iron-containing protein found in red blood cells that binds with oxygen in the lungs and carries it through the bloodstream to the body's tissues, then returns carrying carbon dioxide back to the lungs.
Context Anchor
Seen in aeromedical discussions of hypemic hypoxia, especially when explaining why the blood may fail to carry enough oxygen even when the air contains oxygen.
Derivation
From Greek 'haima' (blood) and Latin 'globus' (ball or sphere), reflecting its role as the round-shaped, blood-carrying molecule. Knowing the 'blood' root helps anchor that anything affecting hemoglobin is a blood-level problem, not a lung problem.
Why Pilots Care
Reduced hemoglobin effectiveness, such as from , limits oxygen delivery and contributes directly to hypemic hypoxia at .