Bronchitises

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A condition characterized by inflammation of the bronchial tubes, leading to coughing and difficulty breathing
2. It involves the swelling of the air passages in the lungs, often resulting in mucus production and wheezing
3. The disease manifests as persistent cough and shortness of breath due to irritated airways in the respiratory system

Etymology: "Bronchitises" is the plural of "bronchitis," a noun for inflammation of the bronchial tubes, the airways that carry air between the windpipe and the lungs. The plural is rarely used, since it is usually treated as an uncountable condition, but it is the form of the word for multiple cases or types of the disease. The base word goes back to ancient Greek, where "brónkhos" meant "windpipe," and it passed into Late Latin as "bronchus." Physicians later attached the suffix "-itis," from Greek, which marks inflammation, so "bronchitis" literally means something like "windpipe inflammation." The suffix appears in many medical terms, such as "arthritis" (joint inflammation) and "tonsillitis" (tonsil inflammation).