Acidemia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical condition marked by an elevated concentration of acid in the blood, potentially causing serious complications that affect metabolic functions
2. This disorder signifies high levels of hydrogen ions in the bloodstream, which can disturb the body's pH balance and impair various physiological processes
3. A health condition characterized by increased acidity within the blood that disrupts normal bodily functions

Etymology: Acidemia is a plain technical coinage: "acid" joined to the Greek-derived suffix "-emia," meaning "blood condition," from Greek "haima," "blood." The suffix is the same one found in words like "anemia" and "leukemia," and it signals a condition of the blood, so acidemia names a state in which the blood itself has become too acidic. The "acid" part is the chemical half of the story. In the medical sense used here, the term refers to an excess of hydrogen ions in the bloodstream, which pushes the blood's pH below its normal range and interferes with the enzymes and processes that depend on a stable pH. Because the word is built from familiar parts rather than inherited from older medical vocabulary, its meaning is transparent: an acid condition of the blood.