Standard Lemma guide

Morgellons

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

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  • UK: /mɔː(ɹ)ˈd͡ʒɛlənz/
  • US: /mɔɹˈd͡ʒɛlənz/
  • US: /mɔɹˈɡɛlənz/

1

noun

Meaning 1

An unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A disease causing hairs to grow on the backs of children.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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”).