Trend Watch

Ford: Coped With 'Sequelae' of Event

Lookups spike 46,000% from testimony

Sequela and sequelae spiked dramatically in lookups on September 27th, 2018, after Christine Blasey Ford used the latter word in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sequelae is the plural form of the word sequela. We provide two senses for sequela: “an aftereffect of a disease, condition, or injury,” and “a secondary result.” The word comes to English from New Latin, which took it from the Latin sequel. The word came into English use in the late 18th century, typically found in medical contexts.

On these principles we may clearly account for the occurrence of a puerperal Ascites, and after the suppression of a diarrœa; and for many other diseases, as the sequelæ of some other affection.
— Seguin Henry Jackson, Dermato-Pathologia, 1792


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