What does fibrosis mean?
Fibrosis is the medical term for the excessive buildup of fibrous connective tissue in an organ or other body structure, producing the scarring and stiffening that follow chronic injury or inflammation. When tissue is damaged — by infection, toxins, autoimmune attack, or long-term stress — the body normally repairs it, but persistent damage can tip this repair process into overdrive, laying down tough collagen fiber where flexible, working tissue should be. The result is an organ that hardens and gradually loses function: fibrosis can affect virtually any organ, including the lungs, liver, heart, and kidneys. It appears most often in phrases such as 'pulmonary fibrosis' and 'cystic fibrosis', the latter being a well-known inherited disease in which thick, sticky secretions lead to scarring in the lungs and pancreas. A formal term confined largely to medicine and science, fibrosis connotes seriousness and permanence, because established scar tissue generally cannot be reversed, only managed. Its adjective form is 'fibrotic'.
nounThe thickening, scarring, and stiffening of tissue that occurs when fibrous connective tissue forms excessively in an organ, typically as a result of injury, inflammation, or long-standing disease.
- The pathological formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in an organ or tissue, producing scarring and loss of function.
"Years of heavy alcohol use had left him with fibrosis of the liver."
"Chronic hepatitis can quietly progress to fibrosis of the liver over decades."
"The biopsy revealed extensive pulmonary fibrosis, explaining his worsening shortness of breath."
Rarely used; the plural follows the Greek-derived -osis/-oses pattern but appears almost exclusively in academic pathology texts discussing multiple types or instances of the condition.
"The textbook surveyed hepatic and pulmonary fibroses as distinct clinical entities."
The same word that names a deadly lung disease literally just means 'a condition of fibers' — it was coined from Latin fibra, meaning thread.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fibrosis
Fibrosis derives from the Latin 'fibra', meaning fiber or thread, combined with the '-osis' suffix borrowed from Greek, which denotes an abnormal condition or disease process. The word was formed within modern scientific Latin, the coinage tradition by which nineteenth- and twentieth-century medicine built much of its vocabulary. It shares its root with related terms such as 'fiber' (or 'fibre'), 'fibril', and 'fibrin', the last naming the thread-like protein central to blood clotting.
Related word forms
How fibrosis is actually used
A formal medical term, used almost exclusively in clinical, scientific, or health-report contexts rather than everyday conversation. It usually appears with the affected organ specified (as in 'liver fibrosis' or 'pulmonary fibrosis') and carries an inherently negative connotation, since the scarring it describes is generally irreversible.
Easily confused with fibrosis
Cirrhosis is specifically the late-stage scarring of the liver, whereas fibrosis is the general process of fibrous scarring that can affect any organ and only becomes cirrhosis in the liver's advanced stage.
Necrosis is the death of living tissue, while fibrosis is the formation of scar tissue that follows injury or inflammation.