cirrhosis n.

"chronic inflammation of connective tissue," originally and especially of the liver, 1827, coined in Modern Latin by French physician René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec with -osis and Greek kirros "red-yellow, yellow-brown, tawny," which is of unknown origin. The form is erroneous, presuming Greek *kirrhos. So called for the orange-yellow appearance of the diseased liver. Related: Cirrhotic.