sarcopenia

S1A1R1C3O1P3E1N1I1A1

noun

Gradual loss of skeletal muscle due to aging, immobility, illness, or combinations thereof.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounsarcopenia (usually uncountable, plural sarcopenias)

plural sarcopenias

  1. uncountableusuallymedicineGradual loss of skeletal muscle due to aging, immobility, illness, or combinations thereof.

    Factors contributing to frailty include sarcopenia and decline in executive function.

    2008, Wilbert S. Aronow, Jerome L. Fleg, Michael W. Rich, Cardiovascular Disease in the Elderly, 4th edition, Taylor & Francis, page 814
    3 more examples

    Now, let me stop here to make a sort of plea. No decline with age is more dramatic or potentially more functionally significant than the decline in lean body mass. […] Think of the implication of this decrease in lean body mass in respect to the physical behavior of elderly subjects. There may be no single feature of age-related decline that could more dramatically affect ambulation, mobility, calorie intake, and overall nutrient intake and status, independence, breathing, etc. Why have we not given it more attention? Perhaps it needs a name derived from the Greek. I'll suggest a couple: sarcomalacia or sarcopenia. We might study more about the relationship between this decline and exercise; such studies are being done in some of the laboratories at our center. We know that elders can build and rebuild muscle mass. Even the frail elderly can recover function remarkably. I think this is am opportunity for some new attention that would pay off handsomely in maintaining the health and vigor that we described as a goal of our work.

    1989, Irwin H. Rosenberg, “Summary comments”, in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, volume 50, number 5, →DOI, pages 1231-1233

    2021, Beatrice Gasperini, Stefano Volpato, Antonio Cherubini, Chapter 9: Acute Sarcopenia, Alfonso J. Cruz-Jentoft, John E. Morley (editors), Sarcopenia, John Wiley & Sons (Wiley Blackwell), 2nd Edition, page 96, The incidence of sarcopenia was investigated in the GLISTEN study. Sarcopenia at hospital admission was diagnosed in 227 (34.7%) patients.

    When no evident cause of gradual-onset chronic sarcopenia is present in an older person, age-associated (primary) sarcopenia is diagnosed, and further examination of long-term habits that may have led to sarcopenia is appropriate.

    2022, Jeffrey B. Halter, Joseph G. Ouslander, Stephanie Studenski, et al., Hazzard's Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, 8th edition, McGraw Hill, page 736

Origin

From sarco- + -penia; widely agreed to have been coined circa 1989 by Irwin H. Rosenberg.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch spierverlies, sarcopenia
  • spierverliesgradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
  • sarcopeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
  • sarcopeniegradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
Finnish sarkopenia
  • sarkopeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
French sarcopénie
  • sarcopéniegradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
German Sarkopenie
  • Sarkopeniegradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
Latin sarcopenia, sarcopaenia
  • sarcopeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
  • sarcopaeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
Polish sarkopenia
  • sarkopeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
Spanish sarcopenia
  • sarcopeniagradual age-related loss of skeletal muscle
Cite this entry
APA

sarcopenia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sarcopenia

MLA

“sarcopenia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sarcopenia. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sarcopenia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sarcopenia.

Source: sarcopenia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.