Definition

A painful infection of the bone and bone marrow, often caused by bacteria, which can lead to inflammation and damage to the bone tissue.

Example

The doctor diagnosed him with osteomyelitis after he complained of severe bone pain.

Conversation

I heard a friend of mine was diagnosed with osteomyelitis recently.

Oh no, that sounds really serious! What exactly is it?

It's an infection in the bone that can be quite painful.

Yikes, I hope he gets the right treatment soon.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Root Explanation

Osteomyelitis is formed from "osteo-" (from Greek "osteon", meaning bone), "myelo-" (from Greek "myelos", meaning marrow), and "-itis" (from Greek "itis", meaning inflammation). The word refers to the inflammation of the bone and bone marrow.

Memory Tip

Think of 'bone' ('osteo-') and 'marrow' ('myelo-') being inflamed ('-itis') — that's what osteomyelitis means.

Visually Confused Words