Word of the Day Archive
Friday August 17, 2012
phthisis \THAHY-sis\
, noun:
1. A wasting away.
2. Pulmonary tuberculosis; consumption.
At last Sister Hyacinthe began to speak of the immediate and complete cures of phthisis, and this was the triumph, the healing of that terrible disease which ravages humanity…
-- Robert Hugh Benson, Lourdes
Apoplexy is no longer to be feared, but phthisis is there. Social phthisis is called misery.
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Phthisis comes from the Greek root phthí which meant "to decay."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for phthisis
