in pathology, "scantiness of urine," 1843, from oligo- "small, little," + -uria, from Greek ouron "urine" (see urine).
Entries linking to oliguria
oligo-
before vowels olig-, word-forming element meaning "few, the few," from Greek oligos "few, scanty, small, little," in plural, "the few;" a word of uncertain origin.
urine n.
c. 1300, from Old French orine, urine (12c.) and directly from Latin urina "urine," from PIE *ur- (source also of Greek ouron "urine"), variant of root *we-r- "water, liquid, milk" (source also of Sanskrit var "water," Avestan var "rain," Lithuanian jūrės "sea," Old English wær, Old Norse ver "sea," Old Norse ur "drizzling rain"), related to *eue-dh-r (see udder).