Cachexy

[Dr. Goodword]

• cachexy •

Pronunciation: kê-kek-si • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: 1. Extremely bad state of health resulting from malnutrition, starvation. 2. Sick or depraved way of thinking, mental malnourishment.

Notes: Look out for the digraph CH in this word; it is the Greek CH, pronounced [k]. The adjective accompanying this noun is cachectic, which leaves the door open for an adverb, cachectically, though it has never been recorded according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word is also sometimes spelled without the [h], as cacexy

In Play: Should you ever need to frighten someone who has lost too much weight, you might consider something like: "Rachel, that diet is reducing you to cachexy; here, have a piece of this Chocolate Decadence." This word has long since risen above the purely physical, however: "The cachexy of the political system leaves me none too sanguine about the future of the nation."

Word History: This Good Word comes from Greek kakos "bad" + hexis "state". Kakos comes from the Proto-Indo-European word for "defecate", kaka which, with no change over the millennia, is still used in that sense throughout Europe. Poppycock comes from Dutch pappekak, based on Latin pappa "food" + the Middle Dutch variant of this root, kacken. Cacophony "discordant sound" comes from the same root in Greek, kakos "bad" + phonos "sound." (David Brown of Bailly-Romainvilliers, France worried that this handy little item might wither from misuse, so recommended it to us as an outstanding Good Word.)

[Philip Hudson]

Is pellagra a synonym for cachexy? As a genealogist, I read many death certificates. You might be surprised to see the large number of people who died from pellagra during the great depression of the 1930s.

[Slava]

I'd say that pellagra might be a result of cachexy, not a synonym.

[bnjtokyo]

Slava, I think you put the cart before the horse. Cachexy can be a result of pellagra, not the cause. (And since cachexy is a symptom, it can have multiple causes.)

Pellagra, on the other hand, is a disease due to a vitamin deficiency: Insufficient niacin (vitamin B3) and tryptophan in the diet. Once recognized, treatment with appropriate supplements usually brings significant improvement quickly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra

[Philip Hudson]

Thanks bnjtokyo and Slava for your responses. If one were Capitan Jinx of the horse marines he would feed his horse on corn and beans. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmFD05b-kVo . If one eats both corn and beans he/she can avoid pellagra. There are African cultures that survive almost entirely on plantains. The secret is to cook them with very hot peppers. Come to think of it, there are lots of foods that are enhanced by hot peppers.