Hypochondriac

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌhaɪpəʊˈkɒndɹiæk/

Definitions

1. An individual who has an undue concern for personal health, often fearing undiagnosed conditions despite little or no real evidence of illness
2. A person displaying a persistent anxiety about their well-being, frequently convinced they suffer from severe ailments without substantial proof
3. A person characterized by an excessive preoccupation with health issues, commonly imagining serious illnesses without valid medical justification

Etymology: The word begins with a body part and a medical theory. In ancient Greek, "hupokhondrios" named the region of the abdomen just below the ribs, a spot between the cartilage of the chest and the navel. Physicians of the period believed that trouble in that area, perhaps a disordered spleen or a bad flow of bodily humours, could produce low spirits and imagined ailments, so the name of the location came to stand for the condition itself. The Greek adjective "hupokhondriakos" passed into French as "hypocondriaque," and English borrowed the word from that French form. Its ingredients are simple: "hupo" means "below," and "khondros" means "cartilage" or "gristle," the same root that gives English words such as chondrite. The word thus describes a place on the body before it describes a person.

Synonyms: worrier, anxious person, nervous person, fretter, overanxious person

Antonyms: optimist, stoic, realist, confident person, carefree person