syndrome

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɪndɹoʊm/, /-dɹəm/; /ˈsɪndɹəʊm/, /-dɹəm/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin syndromē, from Ancient Greek συνδρομή (sundromḗ, “concurrence of symptoms; concourse”),^[2][3][4] from σύνδρομος (súndromos, “running together”), from σύν (sún, “with”) and the root of δρόμος (drómos, “a running, course”) (see dromedary).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A set of symptoms occurring together: 1541, in Copland's translation of Galen.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

A concurrence or concourse of things in general was a 17th-century sense, now obsolete.^[6][5] The modern general sense, a characteristic pattern of beliefs or behaviour, as in the ___ syndrome, is first recorded in 1955, from psychology.^[2][3][6]

Timeline

• 1541 – a set of symptoms.^[2][6]
• 1646 – a concurrence (obsolete).^[6]
• 1955 – a pattern of behaviour.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of symptoms that together indicate a particular disease or condition.
2. A characteristic combination of opinions, emotions or behaviour.

Word family

• syndromic

Related words

• dromedary
• palindrome
• hippodrome

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press