Etymology

hypochondrium

H4Y4P3O1C3H4O1N1D2R1I1U1M3

Today it means: The upper region of the abdomen, covering the upperribs, at each side of the epigastrium. Full definition →

New Latin hypochondrium ← Ancient Greek ὑποχόνδριον
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromὑποχόνδριον“the soft part of the body below the cartilage and above the navel”
  2. New Latin · borrowed fromhypochondrium
  3. English todayhypochondrium

From New Latin hypochondrium, from Ancient Greek ὑποχόνδριον (hupokhóndrion, “the soft part of the body below the cartilage and above the navel”), from ὑπό (hupó, “below”) + χόνδρος (khóndros, “cartilage”). See also hypochondria, hypochondriac, and Wikipedia at hypochondriasis § Etymology.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.