dermatitis

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin dermatītis,^[2][3][1][4] formed from dermat-, the combining form of the Greek word for skin, and the suffix -itis, used for inflammations.^[2][5][6] Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com analyse it instead as an English formation from dermato- and -itis.^[5][7][8] The combining form comes from Ancient Greek δέρμα (dérma, “skin, hide”), stem δερματ- (dermat-),^[4][6] from δέρω (dérō, “to skin, flay”),^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to split, flay, peel”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inflammation of the skin: Etymonline dates the word to 1851.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1876,^[2] and the OED's first quotation is from Duhring's Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin (1877).^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its one medical sense.^[9][10] The Shorter Oxford notes that it is now used chiefly of a skin inflammation with a known or stated cause, compared with eczema,^[7] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes it as typically marked by reddening, swelling, oozing, crusting or scaling.^[2]

Timeline

• 1851 – inflammation of the skin.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1876 and the OED 1877.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inflammation of the skin, usually with redness, swelling, oozing, crusting or scaling, and often of a known cause.^[2][10][7]

Related words

• dermis
• epidermis
• dermatology
• eczema

Usage notes

The plural is dermatitises or dermatitides.^[2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster