syndemic

English

Etymology

Coined by Merrill Singer in the mid-1990s. Blend of synergy +‎ demic (“of a population”).[1] Compare epidemic (literally “upon the people”).

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -ɛmɪk

Noun

syndemic (plural syndemics)

  1. An aggregation of two or more diseases that interact synergistically within a population.
    Coordinate terms: epidemic, pandemic
    • 2009, Elaine Marie Bennett, Understanding Childhood Malnutrition in a Maya Village in Guatemala, page 11:
      In sum malnutrition, infectious disease, and cognitive impairment constitute a syndemic that is rooted in and perpetuates suboptimal social, political, and economic conditions.
    • 2020 September 26, Richard Horton, “Offline: COVID-19 is not a pandemic”, in The Lancet, volume 396, number 10255, →DOI:
      The aggregation of these diseases on a background of social and economic disparity exacerbates the adverse effects of each separate disease. COVID-19 is not a pandemic. It is a syndemic.

Translations

Adjective

syndemic (not comparable)

  1. Describing such a situation
    • 2020 September 26, Richard Horton, “Offline: COVID-19 is not a pandemic”, in The Lancet, volume 396, number 10255, →DOI:
      The syndemic nature of the threat we face means that a more nuanced approach is needed if we are to protect the health of our communities.

Translations
Translations

References
  1. Merrill Singer (2009) Introduction to Syndemics, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 28: “In the case of syndemic, the first of the two words […] that make up this neologism is synergy […] . The second is demic, a verbal suffix derived from the Greek word demos, or “people”.”

Further reading
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