Meanings
plural anorexias
- abbreviationcountableellipsisespeciallyuncountableEllipsis of anorexia nervosa.
The average age for the onset of anorexia used to be 13 to 17. Now it's 9 to 12, and children as young as 7 have been diagnosed, says Abigail Natenshon, a psychotherapist and author of "When Your Child Has an Eating Disorder."
2011 August 8, Margaret Renkl, “The scary trend of tweens with anorexia”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2012 - broadlycountablein compoundsuncountableAny state of being psychologically starved or deprived of something.
intimacy anorexia; emotional anorexia
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Hellenic*ə-
- Ancient Greekἀν- (an-)
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃réǵeti
- Ancient Greekὀρέγω (orégō)
- Ancient Greekὄρεξῐς (órexĭs)
- Ancient Greekἀνορεξία (anorexía)
- Englishanorexia
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀνορεξία (anorexía), from ἀν- (an-, “not”, alpha privativum) + ὄρεξῐς (órexĭs, “yearning”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, abstract-noun-forming suffix).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic قَهَم
- قَهَم (qaham)loss of appetite
Basque anorexia
- anorexialoss of appetite
Bulgarian липса на апетит, анорексия
- липса на апетит (lipsa na apetit)loss of appetite
- анорексия (anoreksija)loss of appetite
Catalan anorèxia
- anorèxialoss of appetite
Chinese Mandarin 厭食症 /厌食症
- 厭食症 /厌食症 (yànshízhèng)loss of appetite
Czech anorexie
- anorexieloss of appetite
Danish anoreksi
- anoreksiloss of appetite
Dutch anorexie
- anorexieloss of appetite
Esperanto anoreksio
- anoreksioloss of appetite
Finnish anoreksia, ruokahaluttomuus
- anoreksialoss of appetite
- ruokahaluttomuusloss of appetite
French anorexie
- anorexieloss of appetite
German Anorexie
- Anorexieloss of appetite
Greek ανορεξία
- ανορεξία (anorexía)loss of appetite
Hungarian anorexia, étvágytalanság
- anorexialoss of appetite
- étvágytalanságloss of appetite
Indonesian anoreksia, nirselera
- anoreksialoss of appetite
- nirseleraloss of appetite
Italian anoressia
- anoressialoss of appetite
Japanese 食欲不振
- 食欲不振 (shokuyokufushin)loss of appetite
Māori māuiui pohokore
- māuiui pohokoreloss of appetite
Persian بیاشتهایی
- بیاشتهاییloss of appetite
Polish anoreksja, jadłowstręt
- anoreksjaloss of appetite
- jadłowstrętloss of appetite
Portuguese anorexia
- anorexialoss of appetite
Russian аноре́ксия, отсу́тствие аппети́та
- аноре́ксия (anoréksija)loss of appetite
- отсу́тствие аппети́та (otsútstvije appetíta)loss of appetite
Spanish anorexia
- anorexialoss of appetite
Swedish anorexi
- anorexiloss of appetite
Tagalog awanggana
- awangganaloss of appetite
Urdu بطلان شہوت, فقد الشہیہ
- بطلان شہوت (butlān-e-shahvat)loss of appetite
- فقد الشہیہ (faqd-ul-shahīyya)loss of appetite
Cite this entry
anorexia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anorexia
“anorexia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anorexia. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anorexia,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anorexia.
Source: anorexia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.