phthisis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin phthisis, from Ancient Greek φθίσις (phthísis, “consumption, decline, wasting away”), from φθίω (phthíō, “I waste away”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈ(f)θaɪsɪs/, /ˈtaɪsɪs/

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• Hyphenation: phthi‧sis

Noun

phthisis (countable and uncountable, plural phthises)

1. (archaic) An atrophy of the body or part of the body, especially pulmonary tuberculosis.
   • c. 1830-40's, Edgar Allan Poe, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar:Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe:

     For some months to my becoming acquainted with him, his physicians had declared him in a confirmed phthisis. It was his custom, indeed, to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution, as a matter neither to be avoided nor regretted.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     Tired from his journey and his chronic lung weakness, which he had saved from turning to phthisis by winter sojourns in Egypt, he was yet goodhumoured enough when his deputy reported the arrival of a gang of Jews who wanted judgment on something or someone.

Derived terms

• enterophthisis

Related terms

• phthisic

Translations

phthisis

• Bulgarian: туберкулоза f (tuberkuloza)
• Catalan: tisi (ca) f
• Finnish: keuhkotuberkuloosi (pulmonary tuberculosis)
• French: phtisie (fr) f
• German: Phthise f
• Greek: φθίση (el) f (fthísi)
• Hungarian: tüdővész (hu), tüdőgümőkór (hu)
• Italian: tisi (it) f
• Latin: phthisis f
• Ottoman Turkish: ورم (verem)
• Polish: suchoty (pl) f pl
• Russian: чахо́тка (ru) f (čaxótka)
• Slovak: suchotiny f pl
• Spanish: tisis f

Latin

Alternative forms

• pthisis

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek φθῐ́σῐς (phthísis).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰtʰi.sis/, [ˈpʰt̪ʰɪs̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfti.sis/, [ˈft̪iːs̬is]

Noun

phthisis f (genitive phthisis); third declension

1. consumption, phthisis, tuberculosis

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Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	phthisis	phthisēs
Genitive	phthisis	phthisium
Dative	phthisī	phthisibus
Accusative	phthisem	phthisēs phthisīs
Ablative	phthise	phthisibus
Vocative	phthisis	phthisēs

Synonyms

• (consumption, phthisis, tuberculosis): phthoē

Derived terms

• phthisicō

Related terms

• phthisicus

Descendants

• English: phthisis
• Italian: tisi

References

• “phthĭsis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “phthisis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• phthĭsis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,177/3.
• “p(h)thisis” on page 1,376/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)