hemorrhoid

American  

[hem-uh-roid, hem-roid] / ˈhɛm əˌrɔɪd, ˈhɛm rɔɪd /

noun

hemorrhoids plural

1. Pathology. Usually hemorrhoids an abnormally enlarged vein mainly due to a persistent increase in venous pressure, occurring inside the anal sphincter of the rectum and beneath the mucous membrane internal hemorrhoid or outside the anal sphincter and beneath the surface of the anal skin external hemorrhoid.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hemorrhoidal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hemorrhoids
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hemorrhoid

1350–1400; Middle English emoroides (plural) < Latin haemorrhoid ( a ) < Greek haimorroḯda (adj.) discharging blood

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hemorrhoid hemorrhoids

After adjusting for factors that could influence hemorrhoid risk, including age, exercise habits, and fiber intake, the researchers found a clear difference.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026

Norms also has a Hemmies chatbot that fields hemorrhoid queries and does throwback-style PSAs designed to encourage people to talk about hemorrhoids without being too serious.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

James Ivory took a nap in Hugh’s hotel room and accidentally used his hemorrhoid cream to brush his teeth instead of the toothpaste.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024

California health officials are warning the public about a Vietnamese hemorrhoid ointment that is laced with a “highly dangerous amount of lead” and has killed a Sacramento woman.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2024

All of the circulatory vessels, especially the smaller ones, become enlarged, varicose; and an aggregation of varicosed vessels forms a tumor called a pile or hemorrhoid.

From Intestinal Ills Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis by Jamison, Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton)

Endoscopists then examined the participants for signs of hemorrhoids.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026

Up to 40% of men and women will have hemorrhoids at some point in their lives, according to Dr. Ali Rezaie, a gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

Subsequent colonoscopies revealed that those bathroomgoers had a 46 percent higher risk of hemorrhoids than those who didn’t use their phones.

From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2025

“Here are some of the things that are more popular than Congress: hemorrhoids, Nickelback, traffic jams, cockroaches, root canals, colonoscopies, herpes,” Schwarzenegger said in a 2017 Facebook video.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025

He could come through other people’s tonsilectomies without suffering any postoperative distress, and even endure their hernias and hemorrhoids with only mild nausea and revulsion.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller