What does "pityriasis" mean?

Any of several varieties of skin diseases characterized by the shedding of flakes or scales, such as dandruff.

How do you pronounce "pityriasis"?

Pronounced //ˌpɪtəˈɹaɪəsɪs//.

//ˌpɪtəˈɹaɪəsɪs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any of several varieties of skin diseases characterized by the shedding of flakes or scales, such as dandruff. countable, uncountable
"‘This patch is pityriasis, you see, it's coffee-coloured. The things we use for the other troubles will cure that too.’"
2
any of several skin disorders characterized by shedding dry flakes of skin wordnet

"‘This patch is pityriasis, you see, it's coffee-coloured. The things we use for the other troubles will cure that too.’"

From New Latin pityriasis, from Koine Greek πιτυρίασις (pituríasis), from Ancient Greek πίτῡρον (pítūron, “bran”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.