eczema

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin eczema,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek ἔκζεμα (ékzema, “eruption”),^{[7][8][9][10]} from ἐκζέω (ekzéō, “to boil over; of a disease, to break out”),^[2][11][5] formed from ἐκ (ek, “out”) and ζέω (zéō, “to boil”).^[7][12][11] The OED takes it straight from Greek.^[7] Merriam-Webster and Partridge analyse the Greek noun as the prefix with ζέμα (zéma, “a boiling, fermentation”),^[4][13][9] and Klein and Etymonline explain it literally as something thrown out by heat.^[9][12] The Greek verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yes- (“to boil, foam, bubble”),^{[12][2][8][9]} the source also of Welsh ias (“boiling”) and of yeast.^[8][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

An eruption of the skin: 1753, in the Supplement to Chambers's Cyclopædia,^[7][3][12] which says that ancient physicians gave the name to any fiery pustule on the skin.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart thinks that early use referred to the boiling over of the body's humours, perhaps because the disease often comes with a discharge of fluid;^[3] Ayto calls it a gruesome metaphor of skin "boiling over".^[8] The OED's definition, first published in 1891, already describes a non-contagious inflammation of the skin with itching papules and vesicles,^[7] and modern dictionaries define it in the same way.^[4][14][5]

Timeline

• 1753 – an inflammation or eruption of the skin, in Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[7][3][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A non-infectious inflammation of the skin, with redness, itching and small blisters that ooze and then become scaly or crusted: Her eczema always flared up in winter.^[4][14][5]

Word family

• eczematous

Related words

• yeast
• zeolite
• apozem

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins