thalassemia
/ˌθæləˈsiːmiə/noun
thalassemia is a noun meaning “Any of a group of inherited disorders in which the amount of hemoglobin in the blood is reduced” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled T-H-A-L-A-S-S-E-M-I-A, and it appears about once in every 6 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of thalassemia is thalassemias.
What does thalassemia mean?
noun
- 1
Any of a group of inherited disorders in which the amount of hemoglobin in the blood is reduced.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce thalassemia?
- /ˌθæləˈsiːmiə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of thalassemia
- thalassemias plural
- thalassaemia
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is thalassemia?
Thalassemia appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 72,332nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Thalassemia in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Translations:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | thalassémie |
| German | Thalassämie |
| Portuguese | talassemia |
| Spanish | talasemia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does thalassemia come from?
From Ancient Greek θάλασσα (thálassa, “sea”) (see also thalass-) and -emia (“blood”) (from αἷμα (haîma)). The etymology is suggestive of the epidemiology of the disorder, which is more common in people of Mediterranean descent. First attested in 1932.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).