Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Encopresis
/ˌɛnkəˈpriːsɪs/noun
Repeated involuntary soiling in a child past the age of toilet training.
The Greek roots
ἐν
en
in
κόπρος
kópros
dung
Literally: “dunging in”
The story of the word
Built in the twentieth century on the model of enuresis, swapping urine for κόπρος, dung. That same root gives coprolite, the fossilised droppings palaeontologists slice for undigested bone. Most cases turn out to be overflow around chronic constipation rather than anything psychological, which reversed the standard advice given to parents.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
coprolitecoprophagiaenuresis
In a sentence
The encopresis cleared up once the constipation behind it was treated.