cholera

The term originates from the Greek word 'kholera', which itself derives from 'kholē', meaning "bile". In ancient Greek medicine, cholera was conceptualized as a disease caused by an imbalance or excess of bile, one of the four bodily humors. The Latin language adopted the term directly as 'cholera', preserving its medical association. English borrowed the word in the late 14th century, initially using it for various ailments involving vomiting and diarrhea, before its meaning narrowed in the 19th century to specify the severe, water-borne infectious disease we know today.

The word 'cholera' is a simplex loanword from Latin, which borrowed it from Greek. It is not productively segmented into meaningful sub-parts in modern English spelling.