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Glite Dictionary
humoralism

humoralism

1 9.9
An old medical idea that health and personality come from balance of four body fluids
  • noun
  • /hjuːˈmɔːrəlɪzəm/
  • Archaic
: humoralismo
  • Humoralism is the belief that health is dictated by the relative balance of four bodily humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

Examples

  • The rational system underlying this poem, known as the humoral theory or humoralism, was pieced together by Muslim and Christian philosophers.

    Blog text (16)

  • According to humoralism, health depends on the proper balance of four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

  • I'd like to say that humoralism had a number of strengths.

  • But remember what we said about humoralism, Hippocrates and Galen?

  • Humoralism posits that an imbalance of humoralism fluids can lead to illness and affect a person's temperament.

  • In ancient medicine, humoralism explained health issues through the lens of bodily fluid balance.

Surface Forms

humoralism singular
humoralisms plural

Morphology

humoralism = humoral (transparent) = humor + al + ism

Formed by adding the nominalizing suffix '-ism' to the adjective 'humoral' (humor + -al), yielding the doctrine/theory meaning.

Etymology

The word humoralism comes from the Latin root humor, which means 'fluid' or 'moisture' and is the same idea you see in humid. Ancient doctors thought the body had four fluids and that health came from keeping them in 'balance', so humoralism is the old idea that health, illness, and even personality depend on the balance of bodily fluids.