rachitic
- adjective
- /ræˈkɪtɪk/
- Specialized
- Doctors confirmed that his rachitic symptoms included bow legs and poor bone growth.
Examples
-
Gaunt, rachitic, rotten-toothed, plagued by recurrent fevers and jaw-clattering chills, he endured for years.
Fiction book (1992) -
The child's rachitic condition made his bones weak and prone to fractures.
-
Children who are rachitic often experience severe dental issues due to brittle teeth.
Synonyms
Physically weak, often with shaky or bent legs
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A bone illness in young children caused by not having enough vitamin D that makes bones weak or deformed
Surface Forms
Morphology
rachitic = rickets (semi-transparent) = rachit + ic
The adjective denotes 'relating to rickets', but it uses the medical combining form 'rachit-' rather than the more familiar 'rickets', so the relation is not fully transparent to learners.
Etymology
Rachitic comes from a Greek word rachis, which means 'spine' or 'backbone'. So rachitic describes the weak or bent bones you see in rickets, especially in the spine and legs.