a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C from not eating enough fruit and vegetables 坏血病 Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective meaning ‘flaky skin’): from scurf + -y. The current noun use (mid 16th cent.) is by association with French scorbut from modern Latin scorbuticus, from medieval Latin scorbutus ‘scurvy’, perhaps from Middle Low German schorbūk (from schoren ‘to break’ + būk ‘belly’).