rickets

Meaning

Noun

A disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D, causing soft or weak bones.

Verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of ricket

Synonyms

rachitis

consumption

scurvy

malnutrition

Glisson’s disease

Translations

rachitisme

Rachitis

raquitismo

raquitismo

rachitismo

rachitis

كساح

Engelse ziekte

rachitide

raquitis

raquitisme

raşitizm

englische Krankheit

ραχίτις

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɹɪkɪts/

Etymology

Unknown. Originally a local name for the disease in Dorset and Somerset, England. Occasionally postulated to be derived from a Dorsetian dialectal term *rucket (“to breathe with difficulty, wheeze”), but the semantic connection is tenuous. See rachitis, but the medical name was chosen purposefully by English physician Daniel Whistler from phonetic similarity to rickets.