noun
Obsolete medical term for diarrhea. In modern Japanese, 下痢 (げり) is used instead.
江戸時代の医学書には「瀉痢」という語がよく見られる。
The term 瀉痢 is often seen in medical texts from the Edo period.
Modern standard word for diarrhea. 瀉痢 is its obsolete equivalent.
From Chinese 瀉痢 (xièlì), a compound of 瀉 'to pour out, to have diarrhea' and 痢 'dysentery, diarrhea'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the spelling is conventionally associated with the meaning.