diabetes mellitus

Meanings

1. A medical disorder commonly called diabetes, characterized by varying or persistent hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels), especially after eating. It is classified in two types, which are different etiologically but similar in clinical effects: type 1 and type 2.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin diabetes mellitus (“diabetes of the sweet type”) (from the fact that in centuries past, physicians sometimes tasted a patient's urine to help diagnose the illness).