hypochondriac

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person persistently and excessively anxious about having or developing illness

   The confirmed hypochondriac interpreted every headache as a grave disease.

2. 2
   adj

   affected by excessive anxiety about health, or marked by morbid apprehension

   A hypochondriac foreboding made her fear that the delay signaled an accident.

3. 3
   adj

   anatomy: relating to the upper lateral regions of the abdomen beneath the ribs

   The liver occupies much of the right hypochondriac region.

Through French hypocondriaque from Greek hypochondriakos, 'of the region beneath the ribs,' formed from hypo- ('under') + chondros ('cartilage'). Ancient medicine associated the hypochondria, the upper abdomen, with melancholy and imagined illness; the anatomical term therefore developed the modern health-anxiety sense.

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