Ostitis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical condition marked by the inflammation of bone tissue, typically resulting from infection or physical trauma
2. An inflammatory response affecting the structure of bones, usually caused by pathogen presence or injury
3. A pathological state characterized by the inflammation of bone structures, often resulting from microbial infection or physical damage

Etymology: "Ostitis" is an archaic spelling of "osteitis," and the two parts of the modern word are both Greek. The first, "osteo-," comes from Greek "osteon," meaning "bone." The second, "-itis," is a suffix that medical writers use to name inflammation, and it comes from the Greek "-itis," which was used to form adjectives meaning "pertaining to" and was later applied to diseases, most often those of inflammatory type. Put together, "osteitis" literally names an inflammation of bone. Because the suffix is so productive, it is the same pattern behind familiar terms like "arthritis" (joint inflammation) and "tonsillitis" (inflamed tonsils), so once a reader knows the suffix, the whole family of medical names becomes easy to decode.