stenosis

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin stenosis,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek στένωσις (sténōsis, “a narrowing”), from στενόω (stenóō, “to narrow, make narrow”), from στενός (stenós, “narrow, close”).^[2][6][3][7] Etymonline and Dictionary.com analyse it as steno- and -osis.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pathological narrowing of a passage in the body: 1846, according to Etymonline.^[7] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1860 and Dictionary.com to 1855–60,^[3][8] while the OED's first quotation, a heading in the Half-yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences, is from 1872.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its medical sense, a narrowing or stricture of a passage, duct or canal;^[2] the Shorter Oxford adds that it is used especially of an artery or a heart valve, as in pyloric stenosis.^[9] Merriam-Webster also records it as the name of a virus disease of the cotton plant.^[3] Related forms are the adjectives stenotic and stenosed.^[5][7][9]

Timeline

• 1846 – a pathological narrowing of a passage.^[7] The OED's first quotation is from 1872.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine) An abnormal narrowing or constriction of a passage, duct or opening in the body, especially of an artery or a heart valve, as in mitral stenosis.^[9][5][3][2]
2. A virus disease of the cotton plant that stunts its growth, damages the edges of its leaves and leaves many flower buds sterile.^[3]

Word family

• stenotic
• restenosis
• pyloric stenosis
• stenosed

Related words

• steno-
• -osis
• stenography

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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