rheum

[room] /rum/
noun
1.
a thin discharge of the mucous membranes, especially during a cold.
2.
catarrh; cold.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English reume < Late Latin rheuma < Greek rheûma (rheu-, variant stem of rheîn to flow, stream + -ma noun suffix of result)
Related forms
rheumic, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for rheum

rheum

/ruːm/
noun
1.
a watery discharge from the eyes or nose
Word Origin
C14: from Old French reume, ultimately from Greek rheuma bodily humour, stream, from rhein to flow
Word Origin and History for rheum
n.

"mucous discharge," late 14c., from Old French reume "a cold" (13c., Modern French rhume), from Latin rheuma, from Greek rheuma "discharge from the body, flux; a stream, current, flood, a flowing," literally "that which flows," from rhein "to flow," from PIE root *sreu- "to flow" (cf. Sanskrit sravati "flows," srotah "stream;" Avestan thraotah- "stream, river," Old Persian rauta "river;" Greek rheos "a flowing, stream," rhythmos "rhythm," rhytos "fluid, liquid;" Old Irish sruaim, Irish sruth "stream, river;" Welsh ffrwd "stream;" Old Norse straumr, Old English stream, Old High German strom (second element in maelstrom); Lettish strauma "stream, river;" Lithuanian sraveti "to trickle, ooze;" Old Church Slavonic struja "river," o-strovu "island," literally "that which is surrounded by a river;" Polish strumień "brook").

rheum in Medicine

rheum (rōōm)
n.
A watery or thin mucous discharge from the eyes or nose.