Etymology

kernicterus

K5E1R1N1I1C3T1E1R1U1S1

Today it means: Damage to the brain centres of infants caused by increased levels of unconjugated-indirect bilirubin which is free (not bound to albumin). Full definition →

German Kernikterus
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · borrowed fromKernikterus
  2. English todaykernicterus

Borrowed from German Kernikterus, from Kern (“nucleus”) + Ikterus (“icterus, jaundice”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.