noun
tabes; phthisis; pulmonary tuberculosis
Medical term for wasting diseases, especially pulmonary tuberculosis. Archaic in modern clinical usage; now largely replaced by specific disease names like 肺結核.
労症は、かつて肺結核を指す医学用語として使われた。
労症 was once used as a medical term for pulmonary tuberculosis.
Standard kanji spelling for this medical term.
Alternate kanji spelling using the specific radical for 'wasting disease'; less common in modern usage.
The kanji 労 (labor, fatigue) and 癆 (wasting disease) combine with 症 (disease) to denote a consumptive illness. The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the term appears in older medical texts.