A species, structure or disorder named after a particular individual, customarily the one who ?rst described or discovered it. The use of eponyms has been widespread in medicine, but more descriptive – and so more practical – terms are replacing them.
n. a disease, structure, or species named after a particular person, usually the person who first discovered or described it. Eponyms are widespread in medicine, but they are being replaced as more descriptive terms become necessary. Thus the eponyms islets of Langerhans, aqueduct of Sylvius, and Hashimoto’s disease are more likely to be designated in text books as pancreatic islands, cerebral aqueduct, and autoimmune thyroiditis, respectively. —eponymous adj.
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