entry
seborrheic
/ˌsɛbəˈriːɪk/Relating to excessive oily skin secretion
From Modern Latin; hybrid Greek-Latin formation seborrhea (Excessive flow of oily sebaceous matter).
Word Ancestry
In 1849, medical writers built seborrhea as a linguistic hybrid: Latin sebum, “tallow or grease,” joined Greek rhoia, “flow.” The Greek half comes from rhein, “to flow,” the same ancient root behind the image of a river running onward—and, through a different historical path, words such as diarrhea and rheology. Add the adjective-making suffix -ic, and seborrheic simply means “having to do with oily flow,” a remarkably literal label for skin that produces too much sebum. The condition’s name sounds grandly classical, but its everyday companions are wonderfully ordinary: flaky scalp, greasy patches, and what people usually call dandruff. Remember it as a tiny medical movie: sebum is the grease, rhein is the stream, and seborrheic skin is where the stream runs too freely.
The Story
In 1849, medical writers built seborrhea as a linguistic hybrid: Latin sebum, “tallow or grease,” joined Greek rhoia, “flow.” The Greek half comes from rhein, “to flow,” the same ancient root behind the image of a river running onward—and, through a different historical path, words such as diarrhea and rheology. Add the adjective-making suffix -ic, and seborrheic simply means “having to do with oily flow,” a remarkably literal label for skin that produces too much sebum. The condition’s name sounds grandly classical, but its everyday companions are wonderfully ordinary: flaky scalp, greasy patches, and what people usually call dandruff. Remember it as a tiny medical movie: sebum is the grease, rhein is the stream, and seborrheic skin is where the stream runs too freely.
Kin & Kindred
From 'seborrhea'·Excessive flow of oily sebaceous matter
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From '-ic'·Relating to; characterized by
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Wikipedia