Oct. 18th, 2012

phthisis

Oct. 18th, 2012 07:09 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
phthisis (THEY-sis, TEY-sis) - n., a wasting away of the body (or part of the body), esp. (obs.) pulmonary tuberculosis.


Now rare in the first sense, and completely obsolete in the consumptive sense -- though the adjectival phthisic still survives as a rare synonym for asthmatic. Borrowed around 1520 from medical Greek phthísis, lung disease, especially in particular TB, from phthíein, to decay + a noun ending.

---L.

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