Why is it called left hypochondriac

Awesome and awful once meant nearly the same thing. Some specimens in the English vocabulary have followed unusually circuitous routes to their place in the contemporary lexicon, and this series, Lexical Investigations, unpacks those words hiding in our midst. Feedback We've Added New Words!

Word of the Day. Send us feedback. See more words from the same year. Accessed 12 Nov. More Definitions for hypochondriac. Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for hypochondriac. Nglish: Translation of hypochondriac for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of hypochondriac for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of hypochondriac Entry 1 of 2. Definition of hypochondriac Entry 2 of 2. Examples of hypochondriac in a Sentence Noun My brother is a real hypochondriac. Congestive Heart Failure, — 3. Click here for more information. The word [ hypochondriac ] is formed by the prefix [ hypo -], meaning "below", the root term [- chondr -], meaning "cartilage", and the suffix [- iac ], meaning "pertaining to".

A literal translation would be "pertaining to the area below the cartilage"; this does nothing to explain what we understand as a "hypochondriac" patient. The word [hypochondrium], was first used by Hippocrates of Cos BC - BC to denote the anterior bilateral areas below the lower costal cartilages of the thorax , what we known today as two of the abdominal regions , the hypochondriac regions. These two areas contain on the left, the liver and gallbladder, and on the right, the spleen, part of the stomach, and the left flexure of the colon.

Because of the visceral sensations referred by some patients in these areas without any apparent problems, these symptoms started to be called "hypochondriac symptoms".

It did not take much time to refer to a patient that refers pathological symptoms without being sick as an " hypochondriac ". The first one to actually use this term in a publication was Robert Whytt - , a Scottish physician.