rheumatism

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun any painful disorder of the joints or muscles or connective tissues
  2. noun a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint

Etymology

First attested 1601, from Latin rheumatismus (“rheum”), from Ancient Greek ῥευματισμός (rheumatismós, “humour, discharge, rheum”) from ῥευματίζομαι (rheumatízomai, “to suffer from a rheum”) from ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, flow”) from ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow”)

In classic literature

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading