different between diarrhea vs scours

English

Alternative forms

• diarrhoea (British)
• diarrhœa (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French diarrie (French diarrhée), from Late Latin diarrhoea, from Ancient Greek ???????? (diárrhoia, “through-flowing”), from ??? (diá, “through”) + ??? (rhé?, “flow”). Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?da?.???i?.?/
• Rhymes: -i??

Noun

diarrhea (countable and uncountable, plural diarrheas)

1. A gastrointestinal disorder characterized by frequent and very fluid or watery bowel movements.
2. The watery or very soft excrement that comes from such bowel movements.
   • 2008, Danna Korn and Connie Sarros, Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies, Chapter 1:

     My Pampers bill is higher than your paycheck, my hands are raw from washing them every six minutes, and I do eight loads of laundry a day because everything we own is covered in diarrhea, and you want me to "plug him up" and wait another three weeks?

   • 2014, L. A. Knight, Dog Training the American Male, 221:

     Why was she covered in diarrhea?

Usage notes

• Diarrhea is the American and Canadian spelling; diarrhoea is the British / Commonwealth (except Canada) spelling.

Synonyms

• (medical condition): the runs, the shits, the squirts (US), the trots, the squits (both UK), the skitters (Scottish and Northern English) (all slang)
• See also Thesaurus:diarrhea

Hyponyms

• Montezuma's revenge (informal)
• Pharaoh's revenge (informal)

Related terms

• galactorrhea/galactorrhoea
• gonorrhea/gonorrhoea
• logorrhea/logorrhoea
• pyorrhea/pyorrhoea
• rheology

Translations

See also

• constipation

English

Noun

scours pl (plural only)

1. (veterinary medicine) Diarrhea in horses and cattle caused by intestinal infection.
2. (dated) A place where wool was washed and cleaned.

Verb

scours

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of scour