Word.ws English Dictionary

Morgellons

UK/mɔː(ɹ)ˈd͡ʒɛlənz/US/mɔɹˈd͡ʒɛlənz/

Morgellons noun: an unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.

Noun

Morgellons (uncountable)

  1. An unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.
    Synonyms:
    Morgellons disease, Morgellons syndrome
  2. (obsolete) A disease causing hairs to grow on the backs of children.
    • But Hairs make fallible Predictions, and many Temples early gray have out-lived the Psalmist's Period. Hairs which have most amused me have not been in the Face or Head, but on the Back, and not in Men but Children, as I long ago observed in that Endemial Distemper of little Children in Languedock...1690, Thomas Browne, A Letter to a Friend

Synonyms of Morgellons

  • Morgellons disease
  • Morgellons syndrome

Origin of Morgellons

Coined in 2004 by Mary Leitao after a description of an illness in Thomas Browne's A Letter to a Friend (c. 1656, pub. 1690), “that Endemial Distemper of little Children in Languedock, called the Morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh Hairs on their Backs”, apparently a corruption of Masquelons, from Provençal masclous (“little flies”).

Questions about Morgellons

What does Morgellons mean?
Morgellons means an unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.
What part of speech is Morgellons?
Morgellons is a noun.
How do you pronounce Morgellons?
Morgellons is pronounced /mɔː(ɹ)ˈd͡ʒɛlənz/ (UK).

Words near Morgellons in the dictionary

  1. morganucodont
  2. Morganville
  3. Morgas
  4. morgay
  5. morgays
  6. Morgellons
  7. morgen
  8. Morgenegg
  9. morgengift
  10. morgengifts
  11. morgens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Morgellons (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Morgellons.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/morgellons. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.