Morbus
/ˈmɔːrbəs/noun
A disease or pathological condition, especially in medical Latin terminology.
Did you know?In medical Latin, morbus appeared in diagnostic names such as morbus gallicus, an early term for syphilis meaning “the Gallic disease.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mer-
“To die or perish; a reconstructed root associated with death.”
Proto-Italic
Proto-Italic
*morbo-
“A disease or condition associated with illness; the ancestral form inferred for Latin.”
Classical Latin
Latin
morbus
“Disease, sickness, or illness.”
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin
morbus
“Disease, retained in scholarly and medical writing.”
17th Century
English
morbus
“A medical Latin loanword used in English for a disease or pathological condition.”
Modern English
English
morbus
“A specialized term used chiefly in medical nomenclature and historical disease names.”