atrophy

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French atrophie, from Latin atrophia, from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), from ἄτροφος (átrophos, “ill-fed, un-nourished”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + τροφή (trophḗ, “nourishment”), from τρέφω (tréphō, “I fatten”). Equivalent to a- +‎ -trophy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæt.ɹə.fi/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

atrophy (countable and uncountable, plural atrophies)

1. (pathology) A reduction in the functionality of an organ caused by disease, injury or lack of use. [from early 17th c.]

Derived terms

• atrophic
• fibroatrophy
• hemiatrophy
• lipoatrophy
• panatrophy
• pseudoatrophy
• scleroatrophy
• spinal muscular atrophy
• yellow atrophy

 

Translations

reduced functionality

• Albanian: atrofi (sq)
• Arabic: ضُمُور‎ m (ḍumūr), تَلَاشٍ‎ m (talāšin)
• Belarusian: атрафі́я f (atrafíja)
• Bulgarian: атрофия (bg) (atrofija)
• Catalan: atròfia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zakrnění n
• Danish: atrofi c
• Dutch: atrofie (nl) f
• Esperanto: atrofio
• Faroese: svinn n
• Finnish: atrofia (fi), atropia, surkastuma (fi), surkastuminen
• French: atrophie (fr) f
• German: Atrophie (de) f
• Greek: ατροφία (el) f (atrofía)
• Icelandic: rýrnun m
• Italian: atrofia (it)
• Lithuanian: atrofija f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: atrofi m

  Nynorsk: atrofi m

• Polish: atrofia (pl) f
• Portuguese: atrofia (pt) f
• Romanian: atrofie (ro) f, atrofiere (ro) f
• Russian: атрофи́я (ru) f (atrofíja)
• Sicilian: atrufìa f
• Spanish: atrofia (es) f
• Swedish: atrofi (sv) c
• Turkish: atrofi
• Ukrainian: атрофі́я (uk) f (atrofíja)

Verb

atrophy (third-person singular simple present atrophies, present participle atrophying, simple past and past participle atrophied)

1. (intransitive) To wither or waste away. [from early 18th c.]
   • 1987 June 13, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):

     Boy. I love summer vacation. I can feel my brain beginning to atrophy already.

   • 2013 October 13, Ellen Barry, “The Russia Left Behind: A journey through a heartland on the slow road to ruin”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The M10 highway looks normal enough at the southern limits of St. Petersburg, but then, with a jolt, it begins to atrophy. For the next 430 miles the surface of the highway, while paved, varies from corduroy to jaw-rattling patchwork.

2. (transitive) To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or weaken.
   • 2001, Tool (lyrics and music), “Schism”:

     Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion

Antonyms

• hypertrophy
• strengthen

Translations

(intransitive) wither or waste away

• Arabic: ضَمُرَ‎ (ḍamura), تَلَاشَى‎ (talāšā)
• Belarusian: атрафі́равацца impf or pf (atrafíravacca)
• Bulgarian: атрофирам (bg) (atrofiram)
• Catalan: atrofiar-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 萎縮／萎缩 (zh) (wěisuō)

• Czech: zakrnět
• Finnish: surkastua (fi), näivettyä (fi)
• French: atrophier (fr)
• German: absterben (de)
• Greek: ατροφώ (el) (atrofó), μαραίνομαι (el) (maraínomai)
• Ido: atrofiar (io)
• Lithuanian: atrofuoti, atrofuotis
• Maori: whakamemeke
• Portuguese: atrofiar (pt)
• Romanian: atrofia (ro)
• Russian: атрофи́роваться (ru) impf or pf (atrofírovatʹsja)
• Spanish: atrofiarse (es)
• Swedish: atrofiera (sv)
• Turkish: körelmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: атрофува́тися (uk) impf or pf (atrofuvátysja)

(transitive) cause to waste away

• Russian: атрофи́ровать (ru) impf (atrofírovatʹ)
• Ukrainian: атрофува́ти impf or pf (atrofuváty)

See also

• -trophy
• hypotrophy

Further reading

• atrophy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia