pterygium
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of pterygium
1650–60; < New Latin < Greek pterýgion little wing or fin, equivalent to pteryg- (stem of ptéryx ) wing, fin + -ion diminutive suffix
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.
Salome is explaining a traditional cure for pterygium, an eye affliction common to the tropics in which vision gradually becomes obscured as a layer of tissue encroaches over the cornea.
From Time Magazine Archive
In some cases, however, it has been found that after removal of a large pterygium, a retraction of the caruncle and the semilunar fold is apt to take place, which renders the eyeball unpleasantly prominent.
From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Bell, Joseph
Connected with diseases of the eye, pterygium is common; not only single, but double, triple, and even quadruple are occasionally met with.
From Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before by Turner, George
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.
