Quartans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Referring to recurring events or illnesses that occur every fourth day; describing a type of fever in malaria characterized by chills and fever episodes spaced roughly 72 hours apart; indicating something that recurs cyclically with a three-day interval between occurrences
2. Pertaining to phenomena or conditions that manifest on every fourth day; identifying a malaria fever pattern with symptoms recurring at 72-hour intervals; denoting a cycle or occurrence repeated after three full days
3. Characterizing periodic occurrences or medical symptoms that happen once every fourth day; specifying a form of quartan malaria fever where attacks happen every third day; implying a regular event with intervals spanning three days between episodes

Etymology: "Quartans" is the plural of "quartan," an adjective and noun that goes back to Latin "quartāna," short for "febris quartana," meaning "quartan fever." The Romans used the phrase for a fever that returned every fourth day, counting inclusively, so the attack fell on day one, day four, day seven and so on. That counting explains the odd arithmetic built into the name: a fever that came back every fourth day really sits three days apart in between. The Latin word was formed from "quartus," meaning "fourth," with the suffix "-ānus" forming the adjective "quartānus," meaning "recurring every four days." The feminine form was then used as a noun, so the fever itself became "quartāna," and it passed into Old French as "quartaine" and into Anglo-Norman in the same shape. English took the word from that Anglo-Norman and French line, which is why it reads as a medical term with a Romance look rather than a native English one.

Synonyms: quartan fever patients, malaria patients