dyspepsia
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of dyspepsia
1650–60; < Latin < Greek dyspepsía, equivalent to dys- dys- + péps ( is ) digestion + -ia -ia
Explanation
If you have chronic indigestion, heartburn, or nausea, you may be diagnosed with the digestive disorder dyspepsia. Dyspepsia can be caused by many things, including ulcers and medications. Dys- is the Greek prefix for bad, and peptos is Greek for digested. Together they make the word dyspeptos, which means hard to digest or literally, badly digested. The Greek word became the root for the adjective dyspeptic, which in turn was the basis for dyspepsia. Sometimes people may say you have dyspepsia when they mean you are chronically in a bad mood or so irritable that it seems like you suffer from chronic indigestion — although this usage is more common with dyspeptic.
Vocabulary lists containing dyspepsia
Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: dys
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"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter
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Moon Over Manifest
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dyspepsia means indigestion, and I can digest a pair of tongs—no matter at what hour I should eat it.
From An Ambitious Woman A Novel by Fawcett, Edgar
Dyspepsia, at best, is formidable, many-headed, but not always gigantic.
From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)
Dyspepsia really leaves the front door open, so that trouble may walk in.
From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon
Dyspepsia and diarrhœa are the diseases in which antacids are chiefly employed.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 Amiel to Atrauli by Various
This narrows down the investigation of your symptoms—listlessness, general dejection, and all—to three causes: Dyspepsia, religious conflicts, love.
From A Brace Of Boys 1867, From "Little Brother" by Ludlow, Fitz Hugh
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
