Daily AncestorCachexia
Cachexia was the medical word for deep wasting and ill health at the end of a long disease, such as cancer, tuberculosis or chronic malaria.
The word comes from Greek for a bad condition of the body. Webster's 1913 defines it as ill health and poor nutrition caused by a specific disease such as cancer or tuberculosis.
Records often name the disease behind it, as in malarial cachexia or cancerous cachexia. The 1911 Britannica said much of the death toll set down to malaria came from malarial cachexia rather than the fever attacks themselves.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Mary Kehoe, 58, F, W, Cachexia, cancer of stomach
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Cachexia." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/cachexia. Last checked 2026-10-10.