Albinism
/ˈæl.bɪ.nɪ.zəm/noun
A genetic condition in which there is little or no melanin in the skin, hair, and eyes.
Did you know?English got this term through scientific Latin, ultimately from Latin albus meaning “white,” the same root behind the Roman cognomen Albinus and the old contrast with niger (“black”).
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₂elbʰ-
“to be white or bright”
Latin
Latin
albus
“white; bright, pale”
Late Latin
Latin
albinus
“white; a white person or thing”
17th–18th Century
English
albino
“a person or animal with congenital lack of normal pigmentation”
19th Century
English
albinism
“the condition of being albino; congenital absence or reduction of pigmentation”