"inflammation of the gall bladder," 1846, from cholecyst "gall bladder" + -itis "inflammation."
Entries linking to cholecystitis
cholecyst n.
"gall bladder," 1846, from medical Latin cholecystis, incorrectly formed from Greek khole "gall" (from PIE root *ghel- (2) "to shine," with derivatives denoting "green, yellow," and thus "bile, gall") + kystis "bladder, cyst" (see cyst). Related: Cholecystectomy.
-itis
word-forming element in medicine denoting "diseases characterized by inflammation" (of the specified part), Modern Latin, from Greek -itis, feminine of adjectival suffix -ites "pertaining to." Feminine because it was used with an implied nosos "disease," a feminine noun; especially in arthritis (nosos) "(disease) of the joints." Arthritis (16c.) was one of the earliest appearances of the suffix in English and from it the suffix was abstracted in other uses.