Dysury

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Painful or difficult passing of urine, a symptom often linked to infection or irritation of the urinary tract
2. A medical condition in which emptying the bladder causes pain, burning or considerable strain
3. Discomfort or struggle when urinating, usually signaling an underlying problem in the bladder or urethra

Etymology: "Dysury" is an older spelling of "dysuria," and the two words are doublets: they came into English by different routes from the same Greek source. Both trace back to the Greek "dysouria," built from "dys-," meaning "bad" or "difficult," and "-ouron," meaning "urine," with the "-ia" suffix turning it into a condition. The Greek sense was simply difficult urination, which is exactly what the modern definition still describes. The split is what makes the pair interesting. "Dysury" is the form English took directly, while "dysuria" is the form that came in later from New Latin, the scholarly Latin used by physicians and naturalists long after classical times. Both forms survive in medical writing, but "dysuria" is the one that became standard, and "dysury" now reads as archaic.

Synonyms: dysuria