A.Word.A.Day -- rhinorrhea

A.Word.A.Day

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Aug 29, 2005

This week's theme
Words related to medicine

This week's words
rhinorrhea
alexiteric
atretic
fomites
styptic

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Prevention is better than cure, the saying goes. But sometimes no amount of prevention helps, and we are forced to visit those trained in the healing arts. Like any profession, the world of medicine has its own jargon. If you have come down with a bad case of medical jargonitis, help is near. Here is our prescription: take the five words in this week's dose and email us next week.

rhinorrhea

rhinorrhea (ry-nuh-REE-uh) noun

noun: A runny nose.

[From Neo-Latin, from Greek rhino- (nose), -rrhea (flow).]

Another word with the same prefix: rhinoceros. Another word with the same suffix: logorrhea (excessive flow of words: talkativeness).

So what happens when you combine these two words? You redefine rhinorrhea: a rhinoceros who talks too much.

"Once the volunteers began sniffling, they rated the severity of their symptoms of sneezing, rhinorrhea, stuffy noses, sore throat, cough, headache, fatigue and chills."
A.J. Hostetler; Study: Herb (echinacea) Can't Curb Cold; Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia); Aug 4, 2005.

See more usage examples of rhinorrhea in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and bones. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

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