-rrhagia Also -rrhagic and -rrhage.
An excessive flow or discharge.
[Greek -rrhag-, stem of Greek rhēgnunai, to burst.]
Terms often contain the linking vowel -o- before the ending. Examples include menorrhagia (Greek mēn, month), abnormally heavy bleeding at menstruation; metrorrhagia (Greek mētra, womb), abnormal bleeding from the womb; and haemorrhagia (US hemorrhagia)(Greek haima, blood), loss of blood from a ruptured blood vessel.
Though adjectives can in theory be formed in -rrhagic, only haemorrhagic is at all common. Similarly, the only common example of a word in the noun ending -rrhage is haemorrhage, the usual term for an escape of blood from a ruptured vessel.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.