malacia
English
Etymology
From Latin malacia, from Ancient Greek μαλακία (malakía, “softness, sickness”).
Noun
malacia (countable and uncountable, plural malacias)
- (medicine, pathology) Abnormal softening of organs or tissues of the human body. [from 19th c.]
- 1860, Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow, Cellular Pathology as Based Upon Physiological and Pathological Histology, page 318:
- As soon, namely, as a process of this sort sets in in a compound organ, as for example, a muscle, a palpable myo-malacia is certainly produced when all the muscular elements at a given point are at once affected; but it happens far more frequently that, in the course of a muscle, only a comparatively small number of primitive fasciculi are affected, whilst the others remain almost intact.
-
- (medicine, obsolete) An abnormal craving for certain types of food. [from 17th c.]
- 1916, A. J. Carlson, The Control of hunger in health and disease, page 267:
- The least abnormal condition appears to be the malacia, or desire for highly spiced or acid foods that are sometimes seen in chlorotic girls and in pregnant women.
-
Derived terms
- bronchomalacia
- cardiomalacia
- craniomalacia
- hepatomalacia
- leukomalacia
- myelomalacia
- odontomalacia
- osteomalacia
- polioencephalomalacia
- tracheomalacia
Translations
softening of organs or tissue
craving
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References
- “malacia”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
- Calamia
Italian
Etymology
From Latin malacia, from Ancient Greek μαλακία (malakía, “softness, sickness”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ma.laˈt͡ʃi.a/
- Rhymes: -ia
- Hyphenation: ma‧la‧cì‧a
Noun
malacia f (plural malacie)
- (pathology) malacia
Derived terms
- osteomalacia
Anagrams
- Calamai, Calamia, calamai, lamaica
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μαλακία (malakía, “softness”), from μᾰλᾰκός (malakós, “soft”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /maˈla.ki.a/, [mäˈɫ̪äkiä]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /maˈla.t͡ʃi.a/, [mäˈläːt͡ʃiä]
Noun
malacia f (genitive malaciae); first declension
- a calm at sea, dead calm
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 3.15:
- Ac iam conversis in eam partem navibus quo ventus ferebat, tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas exstitit ut se ex loco movere non possent.
- And they had headed all their vessels down the wind, when suddenly a calm so complete and absolute came on that they could not stir from the spot.
- Ac iam conversis in eam partem navibus quo ventus ferebat, tanta subito malacia ac tranquillitas exstitit ut se ex loco movere non possent.
- c. 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium 67.14–15:
- Nihil habere, ad quod exciteris, ad quod te concites, cuius denuntiatione et incursu firmitatem animi tui temptes, sed in otio inconcusso iacere non est tranquillitas; malacia est.
- If you have nothing to stir you up and rouse you to action, nothing which will test your resolution by its threats and hostilities; if you recline in unshaken comfort, it is not tranquillity; it is merely a flat calm.
- Nihil habere, ad quod exciteris, ad quod te concites, cuius denuntiatione et incursu firmitatem animi tui temptes, sed in otio inconcusso iacere non est tranquillitas; malacia est.
- (medicine) loss of appetite, nausea
Declension
First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | malacia | malaciae |
Genitive | malaciae | malaciārum |
Dative | malaciae | malaciīs |
Accusative | malaciam | malaciās |
Ablative | malaciā | malaciīs |
Vocative | malacia | malaciae |
References
- “malacia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “malacia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers