malacia

Noun

malacia (countable and uncountable, plural malacias)

1. Abnormal softening of organs or tissues of the human body.
   • As soon, namely, as a process of this sort sets in in a compound organ, as for example, a muscle, a palpable myo-malacia is certainly produced when all the muscular elements at a given point are at once affected; but it happens far more frequently that, in the course of a muscle, only a...1860, Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow, Cellular Pathology as Based Upon Physiological and Pathological Histology, page 318
2. (obsolete) An abnormal craving for certain types of food.
   • The least abnormal condition appears to be the malacia, or desire for highly spiced or acid foods that are sometimes seen in chlorotic girls and in pregnant women.1916, A. J. Carlson, The Control of hunger in health and disease, page 267