Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Pharyngitis
/ˌfærɪnˈdʒaɪtɪs/noun
Inflammation of the pharynx, the usual cause of a sore throat.
The Greek roots
φάρυγξ
phárynx
throat, gullet
-ῖτις
-îtis
inflammation of
Literally: “inflammation of the throat”
The story of the word
The -itis ending is a grammatical fossil. In Greek it was a feminine adjective agreeing with νόσος, disease, so ἀρθρῖτις meant the joint-related sickness and the noun was later dropped. Medicine kept the orphaned adjective and now bolts it onto anything that can swell, including organs the Greeks never named.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → medical Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
pharynxarthritisbronchitismeningitis
In a sentence
Most pharyngitis is viral, so the antibiotic prescription did nothing.
She had streptococcal pharyngitis and a temperature of thirty-nine.