Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Rhinitis
/raɪˈnaɪtɪs/noun
Inflammation of the lining of the nose, producing congestion, sneezing and a runny discharge.
The Greek roots
ῥίς, ῥινός
rhís, rhinós
nose
-ῖτις
-îtis
inflammation of
Literally: “nose inflammation”
The story of the word
The -itis ending was never a noun in Greek. It was a feminine adjective agreeing with νόσος, disease, so ἀρθρῖτις meant simply 'joint disease'; medicine kept the adjective, dropped the noun, and turned the leftover ending into its all-purpose marker for inflammation. The first element is the same nose that walks around inside rhinoceros, the horn-nosed animal.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → medical Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
rhinocerosrhinoplastyotorhinolaryngology
In a sentence
Three weeks of rhinitis every April told her the plane trees were to blame.
The label warned that the spray treats allergic rhinitis, not a common cold.