Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Jaundice |
JaundiceNoun1. Yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes caused by an accumulation of bile pigment (bilirubin) in the blood; can be a symptom of gallstones or liver infection or anemia. 2. A sharp and bitter manner. Verb1. Distort adversely: "Jealousy had jaundiced his judgment". 2. Affect with, or as if with, jaundice. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "jaundice" was first used: sometime around 1303. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Botanical | A yellow tinge to the skin, eyes, etc., caused by an increase in bile pigment. Treated with Allium, Ananas, Bambussa, Bocconia, Boerhaavia, Eleusine, Jatropha, Solanum, Tamarindus. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | To dream that you have the jaundice, denotes prosperity after temporary embarrassments. To see others with jaundice, you will be worried with unpleasant companions and discouraging prospects. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Health | A clinical manifestation of hyperbilirubinemia, consisting of deposition of bile pigments in the skin, resulting in a yellowish staining of the skin and mucous membranes. (references) |
Literature | Jaundice (2 syl.) A jaundiced eye. A prejudiced eye which sees "faults that are not." It was a popular belief among the Romans that to the eye of a person who had the jaundice everything looked of a yellow tinge. (French, jaune, yellow.) "All seems infected that thinfected spy, As all seems yellow to the jaundiced eye." Pope: Essay on Criticism. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Jaundice, otherwise known as icterus, is yellowing of the skin, sclera (eyes) and mucous membranes caused by increased levels of bilirubin in the system. Usually the concentration of bilirubin in the blood must exceed 2-3mg/dL for the coloration to be easily visible.
Causes of jaundice
When red blood cells die, the heme in their hemoglobin is converted to bilirubin. The bilirubin is processed by the liver, enters bile and is eventually excreted through feces.Consequently, there are three different classes of causes for jaundice. Pre-hepatic or hemolytic causes, where too many red blood cells are broken down, hepatic causes where the processing of bilirubin in the liver does not function correctly, and post-hepatic or extrahepatic causes, where the removal of bile is disturbed.
Pre-hepatic
Pre-hepatic jaundice is caused by anything which causes an increased rate of haemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells). In tropical countries, malaria can cause jaundice in this manner. Defects in bilirubin metabolism also present as jaundice.
Hepatic
Hepatic causes include acute hepatitis, drug toxicity and alcoholic liver disease. Less common causes include primary biliary cirrhosis, cholestasis of pregnancy and metastatic carcinoma.
Posthepatic
Post-hepatic jaundice is caused by an interruption to the drainage of bile in the biliary system. The most common causes are gallstones in the common bile duct and pancreatic cancer in the head of the pancreas. Other causes include strictures of the common bile duct, ductal carcinoma, pancreatitis and pancreatic pseudocysts. A rare cause of obstructive jaundice is Mirizzi's syndrome.The presence of pale stools suggests an obstructive or post-hepatic cause as normal feces get their colour from bile pigments.
Neonatal jaundice
Neonatal jaundice is usually harmless: this condition is often seen in babies around the second day after birth, lasting till day 8 in normal births, or to around day 14 in premature births. Serum bilirubin normally drops to a low level without any intervention required: the jaundice is presumably a consequence of metabolic and physiological adjustments after birth. Infants with neonatal jaudice are typically treated by exposing them to high levels of blue light which breaks down the bilirubin. Brief exposure to direct sunlight each day and breastfeeding are also helpful.In neonates, jaundice tends to develop because of two factors - the breakdown of fetal hemoglobin as it is replaced with "normal" hemoglobin and the relatively immature hepatic metabolic pathways which are unable to conjugate bilirubin as fast as an adult.
If the neonatal jaundice does not clear up with simple phototherapy, other causes such as biliary atresia should be considered.
Breastfeeding jaundice
A not well understood cause of jaundice is breastfeeding, which is a diagnosis of exclusion (i.e. exclude any dangerous causes of jaundice first), is harmless and resolves on cessation of breastfeeding. Worried mothers can trial their baby on formula feeds for a few days to see if the jaundice ebbs while continuing to express milk so nursing can resume later.
External links
- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003243.htm
- http://www.cs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/neonatal/html/newprot/jaund2.htm
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Jaundice."
Synonyms: JaundiceSynonyms: acerbity (n), acrimony (n), bitterness (n), icterus (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Jaundice |
| English words defined with "jaundice": anicteric, Antiicteric ♦ Bejaundice, bilirubin ♦ cancer of the liver, canicola fever, Cyanopathy ♦ Gastroduodenitis ♦ Haemaphaein, haematoidin, hematoidin, Hepatogenous ♦ Icteric, Icterical, Icteritous, icterogenic, Icteroid ♦ jaundiced ♦ leptospirosis, liver cancer ♦ pruritus ♦ swamp fever ♦ xanthopsia ♦ yellow, Yellow atrophy, Yellow fever, Yellows. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "jaundice": Alagille Syndrome ♦ bacillary haemoglobinuria, bacillary hemoglobinuria, Bile Duct Obstruction, Extrahepatic ♦ Cholestasis, Intrahepatic, Clostridium haemolyticum infection ♦ Dubin-Johnson Syndrome ♦ equine babesiosis, equine biliary fever, equine piroplasmosis ♦ Hemoglobin C Disease, Hepatorenal Syndrome ♦ Neonatal Hepatitis ♦ Oxyphenisatin Acetate ♦ piroplasmosis of horses, PSIDIUM GUJAVA ♦ Rats, Inbred LEC. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "jaundice": Icteroid. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
Virions are spheroidal, uniform in shape and are 40-60nm in diameter. The name "Yellow Fever" is due to the ensuing jaundice that affects some patients. The vector is the Aedes aegypti or Haemagogus spp. mosquito. Credit: CDC. | This specimen was from a patient who died of Leptospirosis, a disease with symptoms including high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. Credit: CDC. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Dryden | Jealousy, the jaundice of the soul. |
| Jealousy is the jaundice of the soul. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Jaundice in the infant. (references) | |
Severe, untreated jaundice can damage brain cells. (references) | ||
A minor degree of jaundice is common in many newborns. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Jaundice" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 95.59% of the time. "Jaundice" is used about 68 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 95.59% | 65 | 41,645 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.94% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.47% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 68 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "jaundice": Blue jaundice ♦ jaundice of the newborn ♦ malignant jaundice ♦ newborn jaundice ♦ physiologic jaundice ♦ physiological jaundice of the newborn ♦ picric acid jaundice. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "jaundice"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | verdhëz (icterus), të verdhët, i verdhë (cadaverous, Daffodil, daft, flaxen, icterus, jaundiced, livid, pale, stramineous, xanthous, yellow), errësim i arsyes. (various references) | |
Arabic | يرقان مرضع, شعور بالإشمئزاز. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | неприязън (animosity, disaffection, dislike, hostility, malevolence), завист (envy, heartburning, jealousy), жълтеница (icterus, yellows), причинявам жълтеница. (various references) | |
Chinese | 黄疸, 疸 . (various references) | |
Czech | zatrpklost (acerbity, embitterment, sourness), žloutenka (icterus, yellows). (various references) | |
Danish | ikterus (icterus), icterus (icterus), gulsot (chlorosis, icterus). (various references) | |
Dutch | icterus (icterus), geelzucht (icterus). (various references) | |
Farsi | یرقان , دچاریرقان کردن , برشک وحسددرافتادن . (various references) | |
Finnish | keltatauti. (various references) | |
French | jaunisse. (various references) | |
German | gelbsucht (chlorosis, icterus). (various references) | |
Greek | ίκτερος (icterus). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ירוק" (moss, seaweed), ירקון (chlorosis, mildew), צ"בת. (various references) | |
Hungarian | sárgaság (icterus, yellowness, yellows), irigység (envy, grudge, jealousy, yellows). (various references) | |
Indonesian | penyakit kuning. (various references) | |
Italian | itterizia (icterus). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 黄疸 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おう " (crossing). (various references) | |
Korean | 황달. (various references) | |
Manx | yn buighey, yn buighaghey (yellow jaundice), buighagh (bilious). (various references) | |
Norwegian | gulsott. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aundicejay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | icterícia (icterus). (various references) | |
Romanian | stârni gelozia, prejudecãţi, idei preconcepute, icter (yellow), gãlbinare (yellow), îmbolnãvi de icter. (various references) | |
Russian | желтуха (icterus). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | žutica (hepatitis, icterus). (various references) | |
Spanish | ictericia (icterus). (various references) | |
Swedish | gulsot (icterus). (various references) | |
Thai | โรค"ีซ่าน. (various references) | |
Turkish | sarılık (icterus, yellow, yellowness), kıskançlık (envy, jealousy, the green-eyed monster), haset (envy, gloating, green-eyed, grudger, grudging, jealousy, malice, the green-eyed monster), önyargı (bias, forejudge, preconceived opinion, preconception, prejudgement, prejudice, prepossession). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | жовчність (acrimony, bile, gall), жовтяниця (icterus). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự hằn học, sự ghen tức. (various references) | |
Welsh | clefyd melyn. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | aurugine, aurugo, galbinus. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | jaunisse. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "jaundice": jaundiced, jaundices. (additional references) | |
| |
"Jaundice" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: jaudice, judice, Judische, jundie. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "jaundice" (pronounced jô"ndus) |
| 4 | -n d u s | Hondas, horrendous, stupendous, tremendous. |
| 3 | -d u s | cowardice, exodus, goddess, gradus, hazardous, Judas, modus, prejudice, stewardess. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-i-j-n-u" | |
-1 letter: jaunced. | |
-2 letters: induce, jaunce, juiced, unciae. | |
-3 letters: acned, adieu, adunc, caned, canid, dance, dunce, indue, juice, nicad, nudie, uncia. | |
-4 letters: aced, acid, acne, aide, cade, cadi, caid, cain, cane, cedi, cine, cued, dace, dean, deni, dice, dine, djin, duce, duci, dune, iced, idea, jade, jane, jean, nice, nide, nude, unai, unci, unde. | |
-5 letters: ace, aid. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-e-i-j-n-u" | |
+1 letter: jaundiced, jaundices. | |
+2 letters: adjunctive. | |
+3 letters: adjutancies. | |
+5 letters: unadjudicated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Familiar 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.