rheum C2 Topic:Health & Medicine US /ruːm/ UK /ruːm/ See IPA manual Freq #142210 Meanings 1 noun a thin watery discharge of mucus or serum, especially from the eyes or nose The cold left rheum gathering at the corners of his eyes. 2 noun historically, an illness such as catarrh or rheumatism thought to be caused by bodily fluids The physician attributed the cough to a rheum descending from the head. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a thin watery discharge of... mucusdischarge 2 noun · historically, an illness... catarrh Word family Forms rheums Derived forms rheumyrheumaticrheumatism Related forms humorstream Etymology From Middle English reume and Anglo-Norman reume, from Late Latin rheuma and Ancient Greek rheuma, 'stream or bodily humor.' It is etymologically related to stream. Topics Health & Medicine External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # rheum **Type:** Word **Level:** C2 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ruːm/ **IPA (UK):** /ruːm/ **Frequency rank:** 142210 ## Meanings 1. a thin watery discharge of mucus or serum, especially from the eyes or nose 2. historically, an illness such as catarrh or rheumatism thought to be caused by bodily fluids ## Examples - The cold left rheum gathering at the corners of his eyes. - The physician attributed the cough to a rheum descending from the head. ## Synonyms - mucus - discharge - catarrh ## Derived Forms - rheumy - rheumatic - rheumatism ## Related Forms - humor - stream ## Etymology From Middle English reume and Anglo-Norman reume, from Late Latin rheuma and Ancient Greek rheuma, 'stream or bodily humor.' It is etymologically related to stream. ## Topics - Health & Medicine markdown