Phrase guide

diabetes mellitus

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtiːz/
  • /ˌdaɪəˈbiːtɪs/
  • /ˌməˈlaɪtəs/
  • /ˈmɛlɨtəs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A medical disorder commonly called diabetes, characterized by varying or persistent hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels), especially after eating. It is classified in two types, which are different etiologically but similar in clinical effects: type 1 and type 2.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sugar diabetes

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

diabetes caused by a relative or absolute deficiency of insulin and characterized by polyuria

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • when doctors say `diabetes' they usually mean `diabetes mellitus'

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: DM

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: diabetes

Narrower terms: type I diabetes, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM, juvenile-onset diabetes, juvenile diabetes, growth-onset diabetes, ketosis-prone diabetes, ketoacidosis-prone diabetes, autoimmune diabetes, type II diabetes, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, ketosis-resistant diabetes mellitus, ketosis-resistant diabetes, ketoacidosis-resistant diabetes mellitus, ketoacidosis-resistant diabetes, adult-onset diabetes mellitus, adult-onset diabetes, maturity-onset diabetes mellitus, maturity-onset diabetes, mature-onset diabetes, latent diabetes, chemical diabetes

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin diabetes mellitus (“diabetes of the sweet type”) (from the fact that in centuries past, physicians sometimes tasted a patient's urine to help diagnose the illness).

Across languages

Translations

84 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: suikersiekte — medical disorder
  • Amharic: ስኳር በሽታ (səkwar bäšta) — medical disorder
  • Arabic: مرض السكر — medical disorder
  • Armenian: շաքարային դիաբետ (šakʻarayin diabet) — medical disorder
  • Assamese: মধুমেহ (modhumeh) — medical disorder
  • Assamese: বহুমূত্ৰ ৰোগ (bohumutro rüg) — medical disorder
  • Asturian: diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • Azerbaijani: şəkərli diabet — medical disorder
  • Bashkir: шәкәр диабеты (şəkər diabetı) — medical disorder
  • Belarusian: цукровы дыябет (cukróvy dyjabjet) — medical disorder
  • Bengali: বহুমূত্র রোগ (bohumutro rōg) — medical disorder
  • Bulgarian: захарен диабет (zaharen diabet) — medical disorder
  • Burmese: ဆီးချိုရောဂါ (hci:hkyuirau:ga) — medical disorder
  • Catalan: diabetis mellitus — medical disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 糖尿病 (tángniàobìng) — medical disorder
  • Chuvash: сахӑрлӑ диабет (sah̬ărlă diabet) — medical disorder
  • Czech: cukrovka — medical disorder
  • Danish: sukkersyge — medical disorder
  • Dhivehi: ހަކުރު ބަލި (hakuru bali) — medical disorder
  • Dutch: suikerziekte f' — medical disorder
  • Estonian: suhkurtõbi — medical disorder
  • Faroese: sukursjúka — medical disorder
  • Finnish: diabetes — medical disorder
  • Finnish: sokeritauti — medical disorder
  • Finnish: diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • French: diabète — medical disorder
  • French: diabète sucré — medical disorder
  • Georgian: შაქრიანი დიაბეტი (šakriani diabeṭi) — medical disorder
  • German: Diabetes — medical disorder
  • German: Zuckerkrankheit — medical disorder
  • German: Diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • Greek: σακχαρώδης διαβήτης (sakcharódis diavítis) — medical disorder
  • Gujarati: મધુપ્રમેહ (madhuprameh) — medical disorder
  • Hindi: मधुमेह (madhumeh) — medical disorder
  • Hungarian: cukorbetegség — medical disorder
  • Icelandic: sykursýki — medical disorder
  • Indonesian: diabetes melitus — medical disorder
  • Indonesian: penyakit gula — medical disorder
  • Indonesian: kencing manis — medical disorder
  • Italian: diabete mellito — medical disorder
  • Japanese: 糖尿病 (tōnyōbyō) — medical disorder
  • Javanese: ꦏꦼꦚ꧀ꦕꦶꦁꦩꦤꦶꦱ꧀ (kencing manis) — medical disorder
  • Kalmyk: шикрин гем (şikrin gem) — medical disorder
  • Kannada: ಮಧುಮೇಹ (madhumēha) — medical disorder
  • Kazakh: қант диабеті (qant diabetı) — medical disorder
  • Khmer: ជំងឺទឹកនោមផ្អែម (cumngɨɨtɨknoomphʼaem) — medical disorder
  • Latin: diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • Latvian: cukurslimība — medical disorder
  • Latvian: cukura diabēts — medical disorder
  • Lezgi: шекердин азар (šekerdin azar) — medical disorder
  • Lithuanian: cukrinis diabetas — medical disorder
  • Malayalam: പ്രമേഹം (pramēhaṁ) — medical disorder
  • Marathi: मधुमेह (madhumeh) — medical disorder
  • Mongolian: чихрийн шижин (čixriin šižin) — medical disorder
  • Nepali: मधुमेह (madhumeha) — medical disorder
  • Newar: मधुमेह (madhumeha) — medical disorder
  • Newar: चिनी ल्वे (cinī lwe) — medical disorder
  • Odia: ମଧୁମେହ (madhumeha) — medical disorder
  • Ossetian: сӕкӕрниз (sækærniz) — medical disorder
  • Polish: cukrzyca — medical disorder
  • Portuguese: diabetes melito — medical disorder
  • Punjabi: ਸ਼ੱਕਰ ਰੋਗ (śakkar rog) — medical disorder
  • Punjabi: ਮਧੂਮੇਹ (madhūmeh) — medical disorder
  • Quechua: misk'i unquy — medical disorder
  • Romanian: diabet zaharat — medical disorder
  • Russian: са́харный диабе́т (sáxarnyj diabét) — medical disorder
  • Sanskrit: मधुमेह (madhumeha) — medical disorder
  • Scottish Gaelic: tinneas an t-siùcair — medical disorder
  • Sinhalese: දියවැඩියාව (diyawæḍiyāwa) — medical disorder
  • Somali: sokorow — medical disorder
  • Spanish: diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • Swahili: kisukari — medical disorder
  • Swahili: bolisukari — medical disorder
  • Swedish: diabetes mellitus — medical disorder
  • Tajik: бемории қанд (bemori-yi qand) — medical disorder
  • Telugu: మధుమేహము (madhumēhamu) — medical disorder
  • Turkish: diyabet — medical disorder
  • Turkish: şeker hastalığı — medical disorder
  • Turkish: şeker — medical disorder
  • Ukrainian: цукровий діабет (cukrovyj diabet) — medical disorder
  • Urdu: ذیابیطس شکری (ziyābītas-e-śakrī) — medical disorder
  • Urdu: ذیابیطس (ziyābītas) — medical disorder
  • Urdu: شوگر (śugar) — medical disorder
  • Volapük: diabet — medical disorder