Meanings
rickets1
nounrickets (uncountable)
rickets2
verb
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of ricket
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D, causing soft or weak bones.
More synonyms by meaning
nounchildhood disease caused by deficiency of vitamin D and sunlight associated with impaired metabolism of calcium and phosphorus
Similar
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Unknown. Originally a local name for the disease in Dorset and Somerset, England. Occasionally postulated to be derived from a Dorsetian dialectal term *rucket (“to breathe with difficulty, wheeze”), but the semantic connection is tenuous. See rachitis, but the medical name was chosen purposefully by English physician Daniel Whistler from phonetic similarity to rickets.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كُسَاح
- كُسَاح (kusāḥ)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Bulgarian рахит
- рахит (rahit)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Catalan raquitisme
- raquitismedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Chinese Mandarin 佝僂病 /佝偻病
- 佝僂病 /佝偻病 (gōulóubìng)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Czech křivice, rachitida
- křivicedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- rachitidadisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Danish rakitis, engelsk syge
- rakitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- engelsk sygedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Dutch rachitis, Engelse ziekte
- rachitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- Engelse ziektedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Esperanto rakito, rakitismo
- rakitodisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- rakitismodisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Finnish riisitauti
- riisitautidisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
French rachitisme
- rachitismedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
German Rachitis, Rhachitis
- Rachitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- Rhachitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- englische Krankheitdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Greek ραχίτιδα
- ραχίτιδα (rachítida)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Hebrew רַכֶּכֶת
- רַכֶּכֶת (rakékhet)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Hindi सूखा रोग
- सूखा रोग (sūkhā rog)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Hungarian angolkór
- angolkórdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Indonesian rakitis
- rakitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Irish raicíteas
- raicíteasdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Italian rachitismo
- rachitismodisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Japanese くる病, 佝僂病
- くる病disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- 佝僂病 (kurubyō)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Korean 구루병
- 구루병 (gurubyeong)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Māori mate kōiwi takarepa
- mate kōiwi takarepadisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Norwegian Bokmål rakitis, rakitt
- rakitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- rakittdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- engelsk sykedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- engelsk sjukedisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Polish krzywica
- krzywicadisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Portuguese raquitismo
- raquitismodisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Romanian rahitism
- rahitismdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Russian рахи́т
- рахи́т (raxít)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Scottish Gaelic glacadh-cléibh
- glacadh-cléibhdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Slovak rachitída
- rachitídadisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Spanish raquitismo
- raquitismodisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Swedish rakit, rakitis
- rakitdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- rakitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- engelska sjukandisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Tagalog rakitis
- rakitisdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Tamil என்புருக்கி நோய்
- என்புருக்கி நோய் (eṉpurukki nōy)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Thai โรคกระดูกอ่อน, โรคกระดูกอ่อนในเด็ก
- โรคกระดูกอ่อน (rôok-grà-dùuk-ɔ̀ɔn)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- โรคกระดูกอ่อนในเด็ก (rôok-grà-dùuk-ɔ̀ɔn-nai-dèk)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Turkish raşitizm
- raşitizmdisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Welsh llechau
- llechaudisorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Yiddish ענגלישע קרענק, ראַכיט
- ענגלישע קרענק (englishe krenk)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
- ראַכיט (rakhit)disorder of infancy and early childhood due to a deficiency of vitamin D
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
rickets. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rickets
MLA
“rickets.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rickets. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rickets,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rickets.
Source: rickets on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.