What is "psilosis"

"loss of hair through disease," 1837, medical Latin, from Greek psilosis "a stripping of hair," from psiloun "to strip of hair," from psilos "bare" (see psilo-).

n. The sound change by which Greek lost the consonant sound /h/ during antiquity.

n. falling out of hair

Psilosis (from Greek ψίλωσις, "thinning out") can mean:

• Psilosis, the loss of the sound /h/ in the history of the Greek language
• Psilosis, another name for coeliac disease, also known as sprue
• Psilosis, another name for hair loss
• Sylosis, a British metal band

Psilosis is the sound change in which Greek lost the consonant sound /h/ during antiquity. The term comes from the Greek psílōsis ("smoothing, thinning out") and is related to the name of the smooth breathing (ψιλή psilḗ), the sign for the absence of initial in a word. Dialects that have lost are called psilotic.

The linguistic phenomenon is comparable to that of h-dropping in dialects of Modern English and to the development by which /h/ was lost in late Latin.