rhonchus

English

WOTD – 16 November 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rhonchus (“snoring”), from Ancient Greek ῥόγχος (rhónkhos) (Caelius Aurelianus), of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒŋ.kəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑŋ.kəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

rhonchus (plural rhonchi)

1. (medicine) A dry rattling sound heard during breathing, due to deposits in the bronchial tubes.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 699:

     “You have poisoned yourself again!” Humfried emitted an alarming rhonchus.

Derived terms

• rhonchial
• sibilant rhonchus

Translations

sound

• Bulgarian: хрип m (hrip)
• Finnish: rohina, rahina, korina (fi)
• Polish: rzężenie (pl), rzężenia pl

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔŋkʏs/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

rhonchus f (plural rhonchi, diminutive rhonchuske n)

1. rhonchus

Latin

Etymology

Coined by Roman physician and writer on medical topics Caelius Aurelianus: borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥόγχος (rhónkhos, “snoring, stertorous breathing”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈron.kʰus/, [ˈrɔŋkʰʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈron.kus/, [ˈrɔŋkus]

Noun

rhonchus m (genitive rhonchī); second declension

1. A snoring.
   1. (transferred sense) The croaking of a frog.
2. (figurative) A sneering, sneer, jeer.

Inflection

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	rhonchus	rhonchī
Genitive	rhonchī	rhonchōrum
Dative	rhonchō	rhonchīs
Accusative	rhonchum	rhonchōs
Ablative	rhonchō	rhonchīs
Vocative	rhonche	rhonchī

Descendants

• → Dutch: rhonchus
• → English: rhonchus

References

• “rhonchus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press