Icteruses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A condition characterized by the yellowing of skin and eyes due to excess bilirubin in the blood
2. A symptom often associated with liver dysfunction, bile duct obstruction, or hemolysis of red blood cells
3. A medical state indicating potential underlying health issues requiring assessment and treatment

Etymology: "Icteruses" is the plural of "icterus," the medical term for jaundice, the yellowing of skin and eyes caused by excess bilirubin in the blood. The base word was borrowed into Latin as "icterus" from Ancient Greek "íkteros," which meant jaundice itself. Ancient Greek physicians used the term for the condition long before it reached English. The Greek word's own origin is less certain, and the classical sources do not settle it, so the story of "icterus" is mostly one of a name for a single disease passed unchanged from Greek physicians to Latin writers and then into the vocabulary of English medicine. In English the word is used as a technical term, and its plural follows the regular -es pattern for Latin-derived words ending in -us.