Meanings
- uncountablemedicineAn unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.
Synonyms: Morgellons disease, Morgellons syndrome
- obsoleteuncountableA disease causing hairs to grow on the backs of children.
1 more example
But Hairs make fallible Predictions, and many Temples early gray have out-lived the Psalmist's Period. Hairs which have most amused me have not been in the Face or Head, but on the Back, and not in Men but Children, as I long ago observed in that Endemial Distemper of little Children in Languedock, called the Morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh Hairs on their Backs, which takes off the Unquiet Symptomes of the Disease, and delivers them from Coughs and Convulsions.
1690, Thomas Browne, A Letter to a Friend
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.
Origin
- Provençalmasclous“little flies”
- EnglishMorgellons
Coined in 2004 by Mary Leitao after a description of an illness in Thomas Browne's A Letter to a Friend (c. 1656, pub. 1690), “that Endemial Distemper of little Children in Languedock, called the Morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh Hairs on their Backs”, apparently a corruption of Masquelons, from Provençal masclous (“little flies”).
More words from Provençal
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Morgellons. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Morgellons
“Morgellons.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Morgellons. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Morgellons,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Morgellons.
Source: Morgellons on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.