Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Gastroenteritis
/ˌɡæstroʊˌɛntəˈraɪtɪs/noun
Inflammation of the stomach and intestines, usually from infection, producing vomiting and diarrhoea.
The Greek roots
γαστήρ
gastḗr
belly, stomach
ἔντερον
énteron
intestine, gut
-ῖτις
-îtis
inflammation of
Literally: “inflammation of stomach and gut”
The story of the word
The -itis ending was never a noun in Greek. It was a feminine adjective agreeing with νόσος, disease, so arthritis meant the joint disease and the noun eventually dropped away, leaving the ending to carry the sense of inflammation on its own. γαστήρ is the belly of gastronomy, so the same root names both the pleasure and the punishment. Most cases are viral, which is why the antibiotics people demand for it do nothing.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → medical coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
gastricgastronomyentericdysenterygastropod
In a sentence
The whole nursery went down with gastroenteritis in the space of four days.