pemphigus

American  

[pem-fi-guhs, pem-fahy-] / ˈpɛm fɪ gəs, pɛmˈfaɪ- /

noun

Pathology.

1. any of several diseases, often fatal, characterized by blisters on the skin and mucous membranes.

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pemphigus British  

/ pɛmˈfaɪ-, ˈpɛmfɪɡəs /

noun

1. pathol any of a group of blistering skin diseases, esp a potentially fatal form ( pemphigus vulgaris ) characterized by large blisters on the skin, mucous membranes of the mouth, genitals, intestines, etc, which eventually rupture and form painful denuded areas from which critical amounts of bodily protein, fluid, and blood may be lost

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Other Word Forms

• pemphigoid adjective
• pemphigous adjective

Etymology

Origin of pemphigus

1770–80; < New Latin < Greek pemphīg- (stem of pémphīx ) bubble + Latin -us noun suffix

Example Sentences

It wasn’t the pemphigus, but when you have one disease of the immune system, you are at much higher risk of developing a second.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2022

She had a series of painful attacks that her doctors initially attributed to a flare-up of her pemphigus.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2022

Five years earlier she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called pemphigus.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2022

When the researchers infused the engineered T cells into a mouse model of pemphigus vulgaris, their blisters disappeared.

From Scientific American • Sep. 20, 2021

I don’t know what the deuce it is, but the nearest description to it in a ‘Materia Medica,’ etc., is pemphigus, so pemphigus it is, and he has been ‘tonic-ed’ and massaged.

From South: the story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 expedition by Shackleton, Ernest Henry, Sir