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Word of the Week (143): PYURIA (probability 10637), by David Sutton

PYURIA is the presence of pus in the urine.

An alarming number of things can go wrong with urine: in fact the study of urine and the urinary tract constitutes a whole branch of medicine, called UROLOGY, OUROLOGY or URINOLOGY.

So, just to take some of the shorter ones useful for Scrabble, we have ACIDURIA, excessive acid in the urine, AZOTURIA, an excess of urea in the urine, CHYLURIA, a condition in which the urine contains chyle or fatty matter, giving it a milky appearance, DYSURIA (or DYSURY), difficult or painful discharge of urine, ISCHURIA, retention of the urine, LIPURIA, the presence of fat in the urine, NOCTURIA, excessive urination during the night, OLIGURIA, scantiness of urine in proportion to liquid intake, PLANURIA (or PLANURY), the discharge of urine through an abnormal passage, and of course STRANGURY, the agonizing inability to pass urine, memorably described by Louis de Bernieres in his harrowing book 'Birds Without Wings'.

And if none of these conditions have ever affected you? Well, what can one say? Urine luck

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