tinea unguium
- noun
- /ˈtɪniə ˈʌŋɡwiˌəm/
- Specialized
:
tiña ungueal
- The patient was diagnosed with tinea unguium after presenting with thickened, discolored toenails.
Examples
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Treatment for tinea unguium often requires antifungal medication for several months.
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People with diabetes are more susceptible to developing tinea unguium.
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He was diagnosed with tinea unguium last week.
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Are you familiar with tinea unguium?
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The patient was diagnosed with tinea unguium after presenting with thickened, discolored toenails.
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People with diabetes are more susceptible to developing tinea unguium.
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Treatment for tinea unguium often requires antifungal medication for several months.
Synonyms
1
8.6
An infection of the skin or nails that makes round itchy patches
An infection of a fingernail or toenail caused by a fungus
A disease that affects the nails of the fingers or toes
Surface Forms
Morphology
tinea + unguium
This is a technical Latin medical term: 'tinea' signals a fungal infection but 'unguium' is not a common English word (missing from the dictionary entry) and refers etymologically to nails. A B1 learner who only knows the listed constituents would not reliably recognise 'unguium' as 'nail' and thus cannot derive the specific meaning, so the expression is specialist/etymological rather than transparently compositional.
Etymology
Tinea unguium comes from old Latin words: tinea meant 'worm' and unguium meant 'nail'. People imagined a small worm eating the nail, so the name stuck and today tinea unguium means 'a nail infection caused by fungus'.