rheumatism
nounUS /ˈɹu.məˌtɪz/ · /ˈɹu.məˌtɪz.əm/
Etymology First attested 1601, from Latin rheumatismus (“rheum”), from Ancient Greek ῥευματισμός (rheumatismós, “humour, discharge, rheum”) from ῥευματίζομαι (rheumatízomai, “to suffer from a rheum”) from ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, flow”) from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”)
1
Medicine, Pathology, Sciences Any disorder of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, nerves, characterized by pain, discomfort and disability.
- And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach.1763 June 20 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garret. A Comedy, […], London: […] P[aul] Vaillant, […], published 1764, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
- The old man had become a confirmed invalid, confined by chronic rheumatism to his chair.1874, Wilkie Collins, The Dead Alive:
- Derived terms
- desert rheumatism, rheumatismal, rheumatismoid, rheumatism root, rheumatism weed, rumortism
- Related terms
- rheum, rheumatic, rheumaticky, rheumatoid, rheumatologist, rheumatology, rheumy