recrudescence
/ˌɹiːkɹuːˈdɛs(ə)ns/
recrudescence means the condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.
recrudescence is pronounced /ˌɹiːkɹuːˈdɛs(ə)ns/.
Why “recrudescence” is a great word
A renewed outbreak or return of something undesirable, such as a disease or conflict, after a period of abatement. From Late Latin recrūdēscentia, from Latin recrūdēscere ('to become raw or violent again'), from re- ('again') + crūdēscere ('to grow harsh or raw'), from crūdus ('raw, bloody'); first recorded in English 1715–25. Unlike 'resurgence' (a rising again, often neutral or hopeful) or 'relapse' (a return, chiefly medical or behavioral), recrudescence speaks of a violence breaking through a fragile scab. It is the fever flaring in the small hours, the dormant feud ignited by a careless word, the festering wound that splits open with fresh blood—the grim reminder that nothing is ever truly buried, only waiting to break raw again.
Etymology
From Late Latin recrūdēscentia, from Latin recrūdēscēns, present participle of recrūdēscere (“to recrudesce”), from recrūdēscō (“(of a wound) to break open again; (of a fight, sedition,...) to break out again, be rekindled”); from re- (“again”) + crūdēscō (“to grow harsh or violent; to become worse”) (from crūdus (“bleeding, bloody, raw”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“blood outside the body”)) + -ēscō (suffix forming verbs indicating a becoming of something)). The word is cognate with French recrudescence, Italian recrudescenza, Spanish recrudescencia, recrudecimiento.
noun
- The condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.“The population of particular countries, or districts of country, may be given up to less improving pursuits than those of agriculture. A recrudescence of barbarism may condemn it [i.e., land] to chronic poverty and waste.”
- The acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement.“Very probably however, ſuppoſing Mr. Dwight's Account to be Fact, not more than one Conſtitution in one Million is liable to ſuch repeated and diſtant Recrudeſcences of this Diſeaſe.”
- The production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike.“[Frédéric] Kirschleger describes a tuft of leaves as occurring on the apex of the flowering spike after the maturation of the fruit in Plantago, and a similar growth frequently takes place in the common wallflower, in Antirrhinum majus, &c. In cases where a renewal of growth in the axis of inflorescence has taken place after the ripening of the fruit, the French botanists use the term recrudescenc”
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