Morgellons

Meanings

1. An unproven skin disorder, usually thought to be delusional parasitosis, characterized by skin lesions in which fibers are found.
2. A disease causing hairs to grow on the backs of children.

Etymology

Coined in 2004 by Mary Leitao after a description of an illness in Thomas Browne's A Letter to a Friend (c. 1656, pub. 1690), “that Endemial Distemper of little Children in Languedock, called the Morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh Hairs on their Backs”, apparently a corruption of Masquelons, from Provençal masclous (“little flies”).