What do you call someone who is afflicted by a disease?
Hello!
What do you call someone who is afflicted by a disease? (I'm actually looking for an English word, but hey, if you know the Spanish word for it, don't hesitate to post it!)
I keep thinking of victim, but I know that's wrong because a disease/disorder/illness technically isn't a crime.
I would like to hear what you think.
Thank you!
8 Answers
I belong to a cancer support group and we all try to avoid like the plague
such terms as ,victim , sufferer , or having a disease , we prefer to say that
we are people who happen to have a life threatening illness which we are either
living with if you doing well , or are having treatment for whatever specific cancer
one has. Try not to set people apart in categories , we are all similar in wanting to
be accepted and viewed as no different to the next person.
There is endless debate about terminology related to illness and old age. A good example comes from where I work. It used to be geriatrics, which is the term for the care of older people, doctors who care for older people are geriatricians. Then people complained that that had become a negative term so it became elderly care, then people decided they didn't like being described as elderly either so it became care of older adults, now that is out too and we are part of General and Older Age Medicine. Note no one is old anymore, only older.
There also a lot of terms to describe someone with a particular condition for example diabetic and asthmatic but these tend not to be used anymore, a diabetic is now a person with diabetes and an asthmatic is a person with asthma.
- Related Words for : sufferer
- diseased person, sick person, martyr
Hi Sun Smile. If you mean someone who in general gets sick very easily from various diseases, you could say sickly.
I've heard the phrase cancer victim before, but I feel like that is more used if the disease kills you. You could use patient, or sufferer. What context are you trying to use it in?
I agree with Ray, but as a purely linguistic level the word would be sufferer or victim.
Sometimes just "the diseased" or "the sick."
Also, "the infirm."
And, "the afflicted."
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Ray's point is a good one, and I would like to mention that in the U.S. people often refer to people who are in treatment for a serious disease as "survivors."
In general, it is infinitely more kind to say that someone is struggling with x condition, than to call them any of the names we have identified here. I don't think anyone, present company included, would want their identity to be tied to a disease.
That's interesting, Sonrisa, you'd think there would be a good word for this.
I can think of sufferer, unless of course the sufferer is put out of his or her suffering, in which case we have a casualty. 
But seriously, folks, victim is not strictly reserved for the victim of a crime. But it's nor really a good fit for one who suffers an illness.
