GC: n

S: WOL – http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-4887.1944.tb08297.x/abstract (last access: 27 July 2015); Chestofb – http://chestofbooks.com/health/nutrition/metabolism-disorders-therapy/part-8-2/#.VbZ3vhPtlHw (last access: 27 July 2015).

N: 1. c. 1400, from Old French inanition, from Latin inanitionem (nominative inanitio) “emptiness,” noun of action from past participle stem of inanire “to empty,” from inanis “empty, void, worthless, useless,” of uncertain origin.
2. A condition characterized by marked weakness, extreme weight loss, and a decrease in metabolism resulting from prolonged (usually weeks to months) and severe insufficiency of food.
3. Starvation, or asitia, is a term which technically applies rather to the lack of sufficient food for the maintenance of the body, while inanition means the lack of assimilation of food by the tissues. Where there is defective absorption, food may be furnished to the system in abundant quantity, but inanition results from lack of ability to absorb and develop force and nutriment from it. The interval through which different persons can subsist without food depends upon: 1, External conditions of temperature and moisture; 2, the amount of work being performed; and 3, the existing condition of the body.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=inanition (last access: 27 July 2015). 2. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=INANITION&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 27 July 2015). 3. Chestofb – http://chestofbooks.com/health/nutrition/metabolism-disorders-therapy/part-8-2/#.VbZ3vhPtlHw (last access: 27 July 2015).

SYN: starvation (depending on context)

S: MHHE – http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/saladin/digestive/reading5.mhtml (last access: 2 September 2014); Cosnautas/Libro rojo (last access: 27 July 2015).

CR: acute undernutrition, cachexia, chronic hunger, emaciation, famine, fast, hunger, kwashiorkor, malnutrition, marasmus, undernourishment, undernutrition.