Meanings
plural diarrheas · alternative Commonwealth diarrhoea · alternative dated diarrhœa
- CanadaUScountableuncountablemedicineA gastrointestinal disorder characterized by frequent and very soft or watery bowel movements.
- CanadaUScountableuncountableThe watery or very soft excrement that comes from such bowel movements.
Why was she covered in diarrhea?
2014, L. A. Knight, Dog Training the American Male, page 2212 more examples
My Pampers bill is higher than your paycheck, my hands are raw from washing them every six minutes, and I do eight loads of laundry a day because everything we own is covered in diarrhea, and you want me to "plug him up" and wait another three weeks?
2008, Danna Korn and Connie Sarros, Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies, Chapter 1I looked and saw that she and her hammock were covered in diarrhea.
2009, Daniel Everett, Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes, page 47
Synonyms & antonyms
medical condition
nounfrequent and watery bowel movements; can be a symptom of infection or food poisoning or colitis or a gastrointestinal tumor
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekδιάρροια“through-flowing”
- Late Latindiarrhoea
- Middle Frenchdiarrie
- Middle Englishdiaria
- Englishdiarrhea
From Middle English diaria, from Middle French diarrie (French diarrhée), from Late Latin diarrhoea, from Ancient Greek διάρροια (diárrhoia, “through-flowing”), from διά (diá, “through”) + ῥέω (rhéō, “flow”). By surface analysis, dia- + -rrhea. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots. Displaced native Old English ūtsiht (literally “straining out”).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans diarree, lopende maag
- diarreemedical condition
- lopende maagmedical condition
- maagwerkmedical condition
Ancient Greek διάρροια, διάρροια
- διάρροια (diárrhoia)watery excrement
- διάρροια (diárrhoia)medical condition
Arabic إِسْهَال
- إِسْهَال (ʔishāl)medical condition
Bengali উদরাময়
- উদরাময় (udramoẏ)medical condition
Bulgarian диа́рия
- диа́рия (diárija)medical condition
Catalan cagarrines, diarrea
- cagarrinesmedical condition
- diarreamedical condition
Chinese Cantonese 肚屙
- 肚屙 (tou⁵ o¹)medical condition
Chinese Mandarin 稀屎, 腹瀉 /腹泻
- 稀屎 (xīshǐ)watery excrement
- 腹瀉 /腹泻 (fùxiè)medical condition
- 下痢 (xiàlì)medical condition
- 拉肚子 (lādùzi)medical condition
Czech průjem, sračka
- průjemmedical condition
- sračkamedical condition
- běhavkamedical condition
Danish tyndskid, diare
- tyndskidwatery excrement
- diaremedical condition
- diarémedical condition
- diarremedical condition
- diarrémedical condition
Dutch diarree
- diarreemedical condition
Esperanto lakso, diareo
- laksomedical condition
- diareomedical condition
Estonian kõhulahtisus
- kõhulahtisusmedical condition
Finnish ripuliuloste, ripulipaska
- ripuliulostewatery excrement
- ripulipaskawatery excrement
- ripulimedical condition
French chiasse, diarrhée
- chiassewatery excrement
- diarrhéewatery excrement
- diarrhéemedical condition
- foiremedical condition
German Durchfall, Dünnschiss
- Durchfallmedical condition
- Dünnschissmedical condition
- Diarrhömedical condition
- Diarrhoemedical condition
Greek διάρροια, διάρροια
- διάρροια (diárroia)watery excrement
- διάρροια (diárroia)medical condition
- ευκοιλιότητα (efkoiliótita)medical condition
Hebrew שִׁלְשׁוּל
- שִׁלְשׁוּל (shilshúl)medical condition
Hindi अतिसार, दस्त
- अतिसार (atisār)medical condition
- दस्त (dast)medical condition
- डायरिया (ḍāyriyā)medical condition
Hungarian fos, hasmenés
- foswatery excrement
- hasmenésmedical condition
Icelandic niðurgangur, ræpa
- niðurgangurmedical condition
- ræpamedical condition
- drullamedical condition
Indonesian diare, mencret
- diaremedical condition
- mencretmedical condition
- menceretmedical condition
Irish scuaid, buinneach
- scuaidwatery excrement
- buinneachmedical condition
- scaoingmedical condition
- scuaidmedical condition
Italian squacquera, scacazzata
- squacquerawatery excrement
- scacazzatawatery excrement
- diarreamedical condition
Japanese 下痢
- 下痢 (geri)medical condition
Korean 설사
- 설사 (seolsa)medical condition
Latin foria, alvī prōfluvium
- foriamedical condition
- alvī prōfluviummedical condition
Latvian caureja
- caurejamedical condition
Lithuanian viduriavimas
- viduriavimasmedical condition
Malay cirit-birit, diarea
- cirit-biritmedical condition
- diareamedical condition
Norwegian diaré
- diarémedical condition
Persian اسهال, شکمروش
- اسهال (eshâl)medical condition
- شکمروش (šekam-raveš)medical condition
Polish biegunka, sraczka
- biegunkawatery excrement
- sraczkawatery excrement
- rozwolnieniewatery excrement
- biegunkamedical condition
- sraczkamedical condition
- rozwolnieniemedical condition
Portuguese diarreia, diarreia
- diarreiawatery excrement
- diarreiamedical condition
- caganeiramedical condition
Punjabi ਦਸਤ
- ਦਸਤ (dasat)medical condition
Romanian diaree, urdinare
- diareemedical condition
- urdinaremedical condition
Russian жидкий стул, поно́с
- жидкий стул (židkij stul)watery excrement
- поно́с (ponós)medical condition
- диаре́я (diaréja)medical condition
- сра́чка (sráčka)medical condition
Scottish Gaelic cac-shiubhal, a' bhuineach
- cac-shiubhalmedical condition
- a' bhuineachmedical condition
- spùtmedical condition
Slovak hnačka, sračka
- hnačkamedical condition
- sračkamedical condition
Spanish diarrea, churreta
- diarreawatery excrement
- churretawatery excrement
- churretewatery excrement
- churretearwatery excrement
- churretearsewatery excrement
- cagalerawatery excrement
- diarreamedical condition
- colitismedical condition
- cagaderamedical condition
- churriamedical condition
- currutacamedical condition
- churreteramedical condition
Swahili harisha
- harishamedical condition
Swedish diarré
- diarrémedical condition
Tagalog bululos, pagtatae
- bululosmedical condition
- pagtataemedical condition
- talasokmedical condition
Tamil வயிற்றுப்போக்கு, பேதி
- வயிற்றுப்போக்கு (vayiṟṟuppōkku)medical condition
- பேதி (pēti)medical condition
Thai ท้องเสีย, ท้องร่วง
- ท้องเสีย (tɔ́ɔng-sǐia)medical condition
- ท้องร่วง (tɔ́ɔng-rûuang)medical condition
- ท้องเดิน (tɔ́ɔng-dəən)medical condition
Turkish ishal
- ishalmedical condition
Ukrainian проно́с, різа́чка
- проно́с (pronós)medical condition
- різа́чка (rizáčka)medical condition
- бігу́нка (bihúnka)medical condition
- сра́чка (sráčka)medical condition
- діаре́я (diaréja)medical condition
Urdu اسہال, دست
- اسہال (ishāl)medical condition
- دست (dast)medical condition
Vietnamese tiêu chảy, ỉa chảy
- tiêu chảymedical condition
- ỉa chảymedical condition
Welsh pib, dolur rhydd
- pibwatery excrement
- dolur rhyddmedical condition
Zulu Uhudo
- Uhudowatery excrement
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with diarrhea
Cite this entry
diarrhea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diarrhea
“diarrhea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diarrhea. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diarrhea,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diarrhea.
Source: diarrhea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.