Emaciation
/ɪˌmeɪ.siˈeɪ.ʃən/noun
The condition of becoming abnormally thin or wasting away, usually because of illness, malnutrition, or another serious cause.
Did you know?Emaciation entered English through medical and learned Latin vocabulary, where bodily wasting was described with the stark verb emaciare, “to make lean.”
Etymological Timeline
Classical Latin
Latin
macer
“Lean, thin, or wasted”
Classical Latin
Latin
emaciare
“To make lean or cause to waste away”
Late Latin
Latin
emaciatio
“A making thin; wasting”
Medieval Latin
Latin
emaciatio
“Emaciation or bodily wasting, especially in medical writing”
16th Century
French
émaciation
“Extreme thinness or wasting”
17th Century
English
emaciation
“The state of being abnormally thin or wasted”
Modern English
English
emaciation
“Severe loss of flesh or body mass”