anemia

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin anaemia,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek ἀναιμία (anaimía, “lack of blood”),^[2][3][6][4] from ἄναιμος (ánaimos, “bloodless”),^[2][3][7] formed from ἀν- (an-, “without”) and αἷμα (haîma, “blood”).^[2][3][8][7] Barnhart thinks the English word was influenced by French anémie (1722),^[3] and Etymonline takes it from French (1761).^[7] The spelling anemia is chiefly American, while British English keeps anaemia.^[7][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lack of blood, with an unhealthy paleness and weakness: 1761, in the 1989 edition of the OED.^[10] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1800, Dictionary.com to 1800–10, and Etymonline to 1824.^[2][11][7]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English as a medical term.^[7][12] It was first spelled anaemia, recorded before 1824, and the spelling anemia appeared by 1876.^[3] The adjective anaemic is recorded from before 1847, and anemic from after 1839;^[3] Etymonline dates anaemic to 1843 and its figurative use, lacking vigour, to 1898.^[7] The noun too can mean a lack of vitality or lifelessness, as in intellectual anemia.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1761 – a lack of blood, causing paleness and weakness.^[10] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1800, Etymonline to 1824.^[2][7]
• before 1824 – the spelling anaemia.^[3]
• 1839 – the adjective anemic.^[3] Etymonline dates anaemic to 1843.^[7]
• 1876 – the spelling anemia.^[3]
• 1898 – figurative use of anaemic, lacking vigour.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A condition in which the blood has too few red blood cells or too little hemoglobin, often causing pallor, tiredness and shortness of breath.^[2][5][12]
2. A lack of vitality or vigour; lifelessness: the economic anemia of the old mill towns.^[2][5]

Word family

• anemic
• pseudoanemia
• aplastic anemia
• hemolytic anemia
• hypochromic anemia
• miner's anemia
• pernicious anemia
• sickle-cell anemia

Related words

• anaemia
• hemoglobin
• hemorrhage
• leukemia

Usage notes

Anemia is the usual American spelling and anaemia the British one.^[5][9][7] The capitalised Anemia is a different word, the name of a genus of ferns, from Ancient Greek ἀνείμων (aneímōn, “unclad”), because the spore cases are naked;^[2][6][7] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1814.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press