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marasmus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
marasmus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
marasmus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin marasmus, from Ancient Greek μᾰρᾰσμός (marasmós, “withering”, noun).
Pronunciation
Noun
marasmus (countable and uncountable, plural marasmuses)
- (medicine) A condition of chronic undernourishment especially in children, caused by a diet deficient in calories or the inability to digest protein and presenting as a severe loss of body weight.
- Hyponym: marasmus senilis
2015, Angus Deaton, “4 Health in the Modern World”, in The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, page 163:Indian children are still among the skinniest and shortest on the planet, but they are taller and plumper than were their parents or grandparents, and the signs of gross hunger, such as marasmus, are now rarely seen in nutritional surveys.
Derived terms
Translations
References
Latin
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek μᾰρᾰσμός (marasmós, “withering”, noun), related to μᾰραίνω (maraínō, “to quench; to waste, wither”).
Pronunciation
Noun
marasmus m (genitive marasmī); second declension (Late Latin)
- (medicine) marasmus
Inflection
Second-declension noun.
Descendants