morbiditas

Morbiditas is a Latin noun that denotes the state of being sick or diseased. It is the historical root of the modern medical term morbidity and appears in medieval and early modern Latin medical writings to describe disease states, illness, or the burden of disease in individuals or populations. The word comes from morbidus, meaning unhealthy or diseased, and related forms such as morbus for disease.

In contemporary usage, the concept of morbiditas is usually expressed through the term morbidity in English and through cognate terms in other languages (for example morbilidad in Spanish or morbidité in French). In epidemiology and public health, morbidity refers to the presence or impact of disease, rather than to death. It is measured in various ways, including incidence (new cases over a period) and prevalence (total cases at a point in time), and it contributes to the overall disease burden alongside mortality. More comprehensive assessments may use disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) or similar metrics to capture non-fatal health loss.

Morbiditas today is largely encountered in historical, linguistic, or philological contexts. Modern scientific writing typically uses morbidity or related terms to describe illness burden, while distinguishing it from mortality, disability, and comorbidity. The concept remains central to understanding how diseases affect populations beyond mortality alone. See also morbidity, mortality, disease burden, disability, and comorbidity.