Onychomycosis

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɒnɪkəʊmaɪˈkəʊsɪs/

Definitions

1. A condition where fungal organisms infect the nails, resulting in them becoming discolored, thickened, and potentially separating from the nail bed
2. This infection involves fungi that alter the appearance and integrity of the nails, causing symptoms like discoloration, thickness, and potential detachment
3. An infection characterized by fungal growth affecting nails, leading to changes such as discoloration, thickening, and separation from the nail bed

Etymology: Onychomycosis is a deliberate scientific compound, assembled from two Greek-derived building blocks. The first, "onycho-", comes from Greek "onyx", meaning "nail" or "claw" (the same word that gave English "onyx", the banded stone, through the sense of a fingernail-like marking). The second, "mycosis", comes from Greek "mykes", meaning "fungus", with the suffix "-osis" used in medicine for an abnormal or diseased condition. Put together, the word literally means "a diseased condition of the nails caused by fungus." The striking thing is that the word describes a sense of "onyx" that most people would never connect to the nail. Nobody in antiquity spoke of a fungal nail infection, so the term is a modern coinage built from classical parts, in the manner of many medical terms created during the 18th and 19th centuries. Its ancient ingredients were never intended to name this particular disease.