Bilious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪl.i.əs/

Definitions

1. Exhibiting symptoms of excessive bile, manifesting as a temperament that is often irritable or sickly
2. Pertaining to conditions caused by bile that lead to feelings of nausea or general malaise
3. Characterized by an excessive production of bile, leading to a state of irritability and a queasy feeling in the stomach

Etymology: In the ancient medical view, the body was thought to run on four fluids, or humours, and bile was one of them. Too much yellow bile was believed to make a person irritable, short-tempered and sallow, so the Latin "bīliōsus" simply meant "full of bile." That physiological idea is the whole reason the word exists: it described a temperament before it described a mood. The Latin adjective was built from "bīlis," meaning bile, with the suffix "-ōsus," which means "full of" and turns a noun into a description of abundance, as in "verbōsus" (wordy). French took the word as "bilieux," and English adopted it from there, keeping the medical sense of an excess of bile alongside the temperamental one. Over time the physical meaning faded, and "bilious" settled into its present sense of being cross, peevish and unwell at once. The old theory is long discredited, but the adjective still carries the idea that a bad temper and a bad stomach can come from the same source.

Synonyms: nauseous, irritable

Antonyms: pleasant, cheerful