colitis

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin colitis,^[2][3][4] formed from the stem of colon and the suffix -itis, which denotes inflammation.^[2][3][5][6] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford take it as formed in English from the same parts.^[5][6] The anatomical word colon is from Latin colon, from Ancient Greek κόλον (kólon, “food, meat; the colon”),^[2] which Etymonline calls of unknown origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inflammation of the colon: 1860, in R. G. Mayne's Expository Lexicon of Medical Science.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses the word as inflammation of the mucous membrane of the colon,^[5] and the Concise Oxford likewise as inflammation of its lining.^[7] Its main clinical forms have names of their own, such as ulcerative colitis and mucous colitis.^[3]

Timeline

• 1860 – inflammation of the colon.^[2][5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inflammation of the colon, the main part of the large intestine.^[3][8][9][2]

Word family

• enterocolitis
• ileocolitis
• ulcerative colitis

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary and Collins also record colonitis as another name for the condition.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt