a medical condition characterized by bone deformity and learning disability
Old-fashioned name: gargoylism
Word origin
C20: after Gertrud Hurler (1889–1965), Austrian paediatrician
gargoylism in American English
(ˈɡɑːrɡɔiˌlɪzəm)
noun
Pathology old-fashioned
a congenital abnormality characterized chiefly by restricted growth, deformities of the head, trunk, and limbs, learning difficulties, and enlargement of the liver and spleen
Word origin
[1935–40; gargoyle + -ism]This word is first recorded in the period 1935–40. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Arts and Crafts Movement, aeroembolism, gangbuster, roadblock, walk-through-ism is a suffix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form action nounsfrom verbs (baptism). On this model, -ism is used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice,state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion oradherence, etc. (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism; intellectualism)