rachitic

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English

WOTD – 23 November 2024

Etymology

An illustration of a person with rachitic (sense 1) deformities of the legs, that is, due to rickets.

From rachitis (“rickets”) +‎ -ic (suffix forming adjectives from nouns with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’), possibly modelled after French rachitique or Late Latin rachiticus.[1] Rachitis is an unadapted borrowing from New Latin rachitis, used by the British physician Francis Glisson (1597–1677) to refer to rickets,[2] from Koine Greek ῥαχῖτις (rhakhîtis) (in ῥαχῖτις νόσος (rhakhîtis nósos, “spinal inflammation”, literally “spinal disease”)), the feminine form of ῥαχίτης (rhakhítēs, “in or of the spine, spinal”), from Ancient Greek ῥάχῐς (rhákhis, “lower part of the back; (anatomy) backbone, spine”) (probably ultimately Pre-Greek) + -ῖτις (-îtis) (feminine form of -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘one connected to’)).[3]

Pronunciation

Adjective

rachitic (comparative more rachitic, superlative most rachitic)

  2. (pathology) Of or pertaining to, or affected by, rickets (“a disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D, causing soft or weak bones”). [from 18th c.]
    (affected by rickets): Synonym: rickety
  3. (figurative) In a precarious or weak condition; likely to break down or collapse; feeble, rickety. [from 19th c.]
    • 1864, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “I Do Not Become ‘Fast Friends’ with Lagos”, in A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 25:
      On Dec. 2, we found ourselves rolling in the roads of pestilential Lagos, our lullaby the sullen distant roar, whilst a dusky white gleam smoking over the deadly bar in the darkening horizon threatened us with a disagreeable landing at the last, the youngest, and the most rachitic of Great Britain's large but now exceedingly neglected family of colonies.
    • 1923 November, Aldous Huxley, chapter II, in Antic Hay, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 17:
      Gumbril Senior occupied a tall, narrow-shouldered and rachitic house in a little obscure square not far from Paddington. […] It was a prematurely old and decaying house in a decaying quarter.
    • 1947 December 8, “Foreign Exchange: Bold Gamble”, in Time‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-09-19:
      More important, if the daring financial gamble is won, it may encourage other European nations with overvalued, rachitic currencies, notably France and Greece, to push through their own tough financial programs.
    • 1981 August, John Crowley, “The Fairies’ Parliament”, in Little, Big, rack-size edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published October 1983, →ISBN, page 576:
      Even as he thought this he saw, leaping from the last stair of a rachitic escalator, down there, a blond girl in a blue dress, bright in the brown darkness.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “rachitic, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “rachitic, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ In Francis Glisson (1650) De rachitide sive morbo puerili: qui vulgò the rickets dicitur, tractatus; […] [Of Rachitis or the Disease of Children: Which is Commonly Called the Rickets, Treated; […]], London: Typis Guil. Du-gardi; impensis Laurentii Sadler, & Roberti Beaumont […] [printed by William Dugard; at the expense of Laurence Sadler, & Robert Beaumont […]], →OCLC.
  3. ^ “rachitis, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024; “rachitis, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

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