Meanings
nounosteomalacia (countable and uncountable, plural osteomalacias)
plural osteomalacias · alternative osteo-malacia
- countableuncountablemedicineA softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization; the adult equivalent of rickets.
In some skeletons from a 19th-century hospital site in The Netherlands, macroscopic changes suggestive of osteomalacia were present, but firm diagnosis required microscopic study of a bone sample to verify defective mineralization at the microstructural level.
2023, Simon Mays, “The Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Paleopathology” (chapter 2), in The Routledge Handbook of Paleopathology, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, page 27
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ésth₁
- Ancient Greekὀστέον (ostéon)
- Englishosteo-
- Englishmalacia
- Englishosteomalacia
Translations
Finnish osteomalasia
- osteomalasiamedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
French ostéomalacie
- ostéomalaciemedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
German Osteomalazie
- Osteomalaziemedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Greek οστεομαλακία, οστεομαλάκυνση
- οστεομαλακία (osteomalakía)medicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
- οστεομαλάκυνση (osteomalákynsi)medicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Hungarian csontlágyulás
- csontlágyulásmedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Irish oistéamalaice
- oistéamalaicemedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Italian osteomalacia
- osteomalaciamedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Polish osteomalacja
- osteomalacjamedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Portuguese osteomalacia
- osteomalaciamedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Romanian osteomalacie, osteomalacii
- osteomalaciemedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
- osteomalaciimedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Spanish osteomalacia
- osteomalaciamedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Turkish osteomalazi
- osteomalazimedicine: a softening of adult bones due to inadequate mineralization
Cite this entry
APA
osteomalacia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/osteomalacia
MLA
“osteomalacia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/osteomalacia. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “osteomalacia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/osteomalacia.
Source: osteomalacia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.