meningitis

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from French méningitis, from F. Herpin's title “Méningitis, ou inflammation des membranes de l’encéphale” (1803), formed from méninge and the suffix;^[2] other dictionaries call it a New Latin formation from the stem mening- and -itis.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The stem is that of New Latin meninx, from Ancient Greek μῆνιγξ (mêninx, “membrane, especially of the brain”), genitive μήνιγγος (mḗningos).^[8][2][3][4] The OED calls the Greek word of unknown origin;^[2] Klein related it to μηρός (mērós, “thigh”) and Latin membrum (“member”), and Etymonline also points to member.^[8][3] French also had méningite (1829).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inflammation of the meninges, the membranes around the brain and spinal cord: 1824, in The Lancet.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1825.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single medical sense; it is used with words that name the kind or cause of the inflammation, such as bacterial or viral meningitis.^[2][5] The plural meningitides follows Greek and Latin nouns in -is.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1824 – inflammation of the membranes of the brain or spinal cord.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1825.^[3]
• late 19th century – the adjective meningitic.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inflammation of the meninges, the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, usually caused by a bacterial or viral infection: The outbreak of meningitis closed the school for a week.^{[10][5][2][9]}

Word family

• meningitic
• aseptic meningitis
• cerebrospinal meningitis

Related words

• meninx
• meninges
• member

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins