# eczema

Pronunciation: US say "ig-ZEE-muh" /ɪɡˈzi.mə/; UK say "EK-sim-uh" /ˈɛk.sɪm.ə/

## Noun

1. A non-contagious inflammation of the skin, acute or chronic, marked by redness, itching, and outbreaks of oozing blisters that crust over and turn scaly.
   - Simple: A skin problem that makes skin red and itchy, with wet blisters that turn crusty and flaky. You cannot catch it.
   - _Every winter her eczema flared up, and the itchy patches on her wrists began to weep and crust over._
   - _The school nurse reassured worried parents that eczema isn't contagious, and the boy with red, scaly arms returned to class the next day._

## Origin

A learned borrowing from Latin eczema, itself from Ancient Greek ékzema ('cutaneous eruption'), which comes from ekzéō ('to boil out, break out') plus a noun-forming suffix.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/eczema (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).