myxedema

noun

myx·​ede·​ma ˌmik-sə-ˈdē-mə 

: severe hypothyroidism characterized by firm inelastic edema, dry skin and hair, and loss of mental and physical vigor

myxedematous

ˌmik-sə-ˈde-mə-təs 

-ˈdē-

adjective

Examples of myxedema in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Particularly in situations where people get illnesses such as the flu, people can get an infection and go into the state of myxedema coma, a life-threatening disorder where the mortality rate is extremely high. —BostonGlobe.com, 9 Dec. 2019

Word History

Etymology

myx- + edema

Note: Term introduced by the British physician William Miller Ord (1834-1902) in "On myxœdema, a term proposed to be applied to the essential condition in the 'cretinoid' affection occasionally observed in middle-aged women," Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 61 (1878), p. 71: "As regards the class of cases immediately in question, my suggestion is that the whole collection of symptoms are related as effects to jelly-like swelling of the connective tissue, chiefly if not entirely consisting in an overgrowth of the mucus-yielding cement by which the fibrils of the white element are held together. Accordingly I propose to give the name o

First Known Use

1878, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

myxedema

noun

myx·​ede·​ma

variants or chiefly British myxoedema

ˌmik-sə-ˈdē-mə 

: severe hypothyroidism characterized by firm inelastic edema, dry skin and hair, and loss of mental and physical vigor

myxedematous adjective

or chiefly British myxoedematous

-ˈdem-ət-əs  -ˈdē-mət-