azotemia
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌæzəʊˈtiːmɪə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌæzoʊˈtimiə/
- Hyphenation: azo‧te‧mia
Noun
azotemia (countable and uncountable, plural azotemias)
Usage notes
In international scientific vocabulary there is a small class of words where the form prefixed with hyper- is usually or always synonymous with the unprefixed form, despite the combining form logic whereby it would be expected not to be synonymous. Such word pairs have this trait for a shared reason: though the unprefixed form etymonically (sensu stricto) names a state that is normal (physiologically healthy), idiomatically it is also often used to name the excessive, abnormal version of that state, which is usually the only version of it that is worthy of attention. For example, azotemia: there is virtually always some urea in the blood, but the amount is usually small, so a word that etymonically means "nitrogen in the blood" predictably came to mean "excessive nitrogen in the blood" in most cases where physicians use it, making the usual sense of azotemia synonymous with the only sense of hyperazotemia. Likewise, the word uremia (a synonym of azotemia) has the form hyperuremia. Other words where the base form has a sense (either a sole sense or an alternate sense) that is synonymous with the form prefixed with hyper- include hidrosis/hyperhidrosis, kyphosis/hyperkyphosis, lordosis/hyperlordosis, lacrimation/hyperlacrimation, and salivation/hypersalivation. For many of these pairs, some speakers seek to maintain a distinction whereby the unprefixed form only refers to the normal (healthy) degree/version and the form prefixed with hyper- is the only form that refers to the excessive, abnormal degree/version; but the problem with that usage prescription is that many speakers do not follow it and one's reader cannot know that its enforcement is intended unless one states one's definitions explicitly within one's discussion.