Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
bursitis

bursitis

6 8.0
Swelling and pain in a small soft pad near a joint that makes movement painful
  • noun
  • /bɜrˈsaɪtɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : bursitis
  • My bursitis is really flaring up again.
  • shoulder bursitis
  • hip bursitis
  • knee bursitis

Examples

  • After playing tennis, I developed bursitis in my shoulder, making it painful to lift my arm.

  • Her legs were so swollen with bursitis by then that she had to use a cane.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • You have a little bursitis in your arm...

    Deconstructing Harry (1997)

  • My bursitis is acting up.

    Troma's War (1988)

  • I talked to her about how all of my problems started after I had bursitis in my right hip.

    Blog text (5)

  • I was diagnosed with hip bursitis a week before my first half marathon.

    Blog text (15)

  • Uh, I'm not fat, but I've got a little bursitis on the right side of my shoulder.

    Boris and Natasha (1992)

  • I got bursitis.

    Jackass: The Movie (2002)

  • At the TC10, my knee blew up into a full-blown case of bursitis.

    Blog text (6)

  • I've got bursitis.

    The Odd Couple (1968)

How Severe

bursitis
  • Specialized
6 8.0
inflammation
  • Specialized
53 3.7
irritation
21 3.2

Surface Forms

bursitis singular
bursitides plural

Morphology

bursitis = bursa (transparent) = bursa + itis

The word is a straightforward medical formation: 'bursa' + the medical suffix '-itis' meaning inflammation.

Etymology

Bursitis comes from bursa ('purse' or 'small bag') and -itis ('inflammation'), and a bursa is a tiny fluid-filled bag near a joint. So bursitis is the inflammation of that small bag, which explains the pain and limited movement in places like the shoulder, elbow, or knee.