bulimia
pronunciation
How to pronounce bulimia in British English:
UK [buˈlɪmiə]
How to pronounce bulimia in American English:
US [bjuˈlɪmiə, -ˈlimiə, bu-]
-
- Noun:
- a disorder of eating seen among young women who go on eating binges and then feel guilt and depression and self-condemnation
- pathologically insatiable hunger (especially when caused by brain lesions)
Word Origin
- bulimia
- bulimia: [19] The condition now called ‘bulimia’ – in which bouts of overeating are followed by bouts of purging – was recognized and so named in the 1970s. The word used to name it, however, is much more ancient than that. It goes back to Greek boulimia, which meant ‘ravenous hunger’ (it was formed from limos ‘hunger’, with the prefix bou-; this may well have been adapted from bous ‘ox’, in which case the word would have meant literally ‘the hunger of an ox’).It originally came into English, via medieval Latin, in the late 14th century, and for many hundred years its standard form was bulimy. It was applied to a sort of hunger so extreme that it could be categorized as an illness.
- bulimia (n.)
- 1976, Modern Latin, from Greek boulimia, "ravenous hunger" as a disease, literally "ox-hunger," from bou-, intensive prefix (originally from bous "ox;" see cow (n.)) + limos "hunger," from PIE root *leie- "to waste away." As a psychological disorder, technically bulemia nervosa. Englished bulimy was used from late 14c. in a medical sense of "ravishing hunger."
Example
- 1. During their union , diana struggled with depression and bulimia .
- 2. They found that women with anorexia or bulimia draw themselves with different characteristics than women without eating disorders .
- 3. Women with anorexia or bulimia tended to portray themselves with a larger neck , a disconnected neck or no neck .
- 4. Anorexia , bulimia , and other eating disorders can also cause serious nutritional shortfalls that can affect the health of your teeth .
- 5. The study , by israeli researchers , included 36 women with anorexia or bulimia and 40 women with no eating disorder , half of them overweight and half normal weight .