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Word of the Week (169): CYNANCHE (probability 37944), by David Sutton

CYNANCHE is an inflammatory disease of the throat, especially QUINSY. The name means 'dog throttler', from Greek kyon, dog plus anchein, to throttle.

This is one of the few terms for inflammations that does not end in -ITIS. Most of the -ITIS words are too long to be worth study from the Scrabble point of view, but a few shorter ones do come in useful:

AORTITIS	inflammation of the aorta
BURSITIS	inflammation of a bursa, one of the synovial sacs
CARDITIS	inflammation of the fleshy or muscular substance of the heart
CECITIS	inflammation of the cecum
COLITIS	inflammation of the colon
COLPITIS	inflammation of the vagina
COXITIS	inflammation of the hip
CYSTITIS	inflammation of the urinary tract
ILEITIS	inflammation of the ileum, the anterior or superior bone of the pelvis
IRITIS	inflammation of the iris
METRITIS	inflammation of the womb
OTITIS	inflammation of the ear
RHINITIS	inflammation of the nose
SINUITIS	inflammation a sinus (also SINUSITIS)
UVULITIS	inflammation of the uvula

Plurals of -ITIS words can be a little tricky: of the above, all take a plural in -ES except for COXITIS which has plural COXITIDES. ILEITIS can be either ILEITISES or ILEITIDES; OTITIS can be either OTITISES or OTITIDES.

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