Come talk about fun and quirky words in the English Language. Posting is open to all members.
febrile
I was hanging out with my biologist friend and she dropped this one. Which evidently everyone at the table knew. But it was new to me!
Febrile means having the symptoms of a fever. It comes from the latin word febris which just means fever.
Do you know of any cool medical or biological terms?
(Sorry for being behind on posting!)





Febrile means having a symptoms of a fever... a febrile seizure is having a seizure due to having a fever.
Edit: Ictal is the word relating to having a seizure.
Oops typo. Will fix, thanks.
And thanks for the Ictal one too. Also new to me. Does it come from Latin as well?
Yes. It comes from Latin ictus meaning blow or stroke. It doesn't always mean seizure, it can mean stroke or headache as well. But when talking about seizures there are generally three phrases: pre-ictal (when the aura starts for some people, which is actually the beginning of the ictal phase), the ictal phase, or the seizure itself, and the post-ictal phase, or recovery period. (This is the exhaustion/confusion part for me.) You'll see something similar in migraines. I don't know enough about strokes to know if it's the same thing.
I have so many biology terms. But I have epilepsy, so these ones I know pretty well.
Thanks for that explanation. Ictus is a fun word just by itself.
I'm also pretty jealous of your Latin skills.
My Latin is pretty bad, at least in and of itself. I just like etymology.
Ah yes. I have a ton of terms rattling around in my head. My partner works in emergency services and I'm just a biology geek. So between the two of us there's probably quite the list.
Do you have a favorite?
Not off the top of my head. But I'm a mess today because I haven't been sleeping. I think it took me 4 attempts to type that first comment. Hah.
No problem! I'm kind of a mess this week too.
Febrile a great synonym for "feverish" and can be used metaphorically in the same way. That means you don't have to wait for a medical context to drop it into conversation, heh. I have heard the current political climate described as "febrile," but you could also apply it to things like curiosity or creativity.
My contribution: phelanges! Just because it's fun to say.
Yes! That is a great one.
As someone who sees more doctors than anyone my age ever should need to, I am a walking dictionary of medical terms. I think my doctors like the fact they don't usually have to try and explain things in layman's terms.
That's no fun. Sorry you have to deal with that.
It's actually kind of entertaining after a while, to be honest. I spend lots of time researching as a result, too.
It's cool that you make the best of it.
I like talking to techs and nurses. Son had to have a semi-emergency chest x-ray the other day to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. (He doesn't.) Tech asked what was wrong with his heart. I started with the technical names of his surgeries... Tech asked me to slow down. So I went with: Artificial pulmonary valve, mitral regurg, original pulmonary is now in aortic position. No holes. He got that. And then I was more or less able to read the x-ray before his doctor got it to confirm. (Which didn't take too long, but at least gave me peace of mind while I was driving around town dealing with real life stuff.)
Hehe, I get the "wait, what, slow down plz?" from techs myself sometimes. It's amusing. :D
Glad your son is alright!
He's sick, but it's a virus, so all we can really do is chicken soup and steam and rest.
Well, "not having pneumonia" alright.
My dad caught it two years running and we are very relieved he missed it this time round.