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ONYCHOPHAGIST/ɒnɪˈkɒfədʒəst/ A person who bites his or her nails. It comes from Greek onux/onukh–, a nail or claw, plus –phagia, eating or devouring. It should not be confused with onychotillomania, which is a nervous habit of picking at the fingernails to the extent of destroying them. Other words that begin the same way include onychogryphosis, a claw-like overgrowth of a nail, and onychodystrophy, a condition in which the finger or toe nails are malformed or discoloured. Though onychophagist (and onychophagia, for the condition) are known, they seem not to be used even in the academic medical literature, the English nail biter being preferred. The same Greek source gave us onyx for the stone, a variety of chalcedony that is often used for carving cameos, because some kinds of it resemble the pink and white of a human fingernail. |
Page created 27 Jan. 2001
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