Diarrhoia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Abnormally frequent and watery bowel movements, a condition often caused by infection, illness or a reaction to food
2. A medical condition in which a person passes loose, watery stools more often than usual, often as a symptom of illness
3. The condition of having frequent, liquid bowel movements, the Greek-derived term for what English calls diarrhoea

Etymology: Greek "diarrhoia" literally meant "a flowing through", built from "dia" ("through") and "rhein" ("to flow"), the same root behind "rheum" and "catarrh". Physicians used it for any excessive discharge, so the sense of frequent loose stools was the medical narrowing of an older, broader idea of flow. The Greek word passed into Latin as "diarrhoea" and then into English, where it is recorded in the early modern period, borrowed through medical Latin. Its spelling has shifted over the centuries, with "diarrhea" becoming the standard form in American English while British usage has kept the "oe".