valetudinarian

From Latin valētūdinārius, from valetudo (“state of health, health, ill health”), from valere (“to be strong or well”) +‎ -an

• IPA^(key): /ˌvæ.lə.ˌtuː.də.ˈnɛɹ.i.ən/

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valetudinarian (comparative more valetudinarian, superlative most valetudinarian)

1. sickly, infirm, of ailing health

   The valetudinarian habit of discussing his health had grown on Rose... -- Florence Anne Sellar MacCunn, Sir Walter Scott's Friends, 1910, p. 234

   • Macaulay

     The virtue which the world wants is a healthful virtue, not a valetudinarian virtue.

2. being overly worried about one's health

• hypochondriac
• hypochondriacal
• valetudinary

valetudinarian (plural valetudinarians)

1. A person in poor health or sickly, especially one who is constantly obsessed with their state of health
   • Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, July 6, 1787 in The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford (ed.), Vol. 5, pp. 300-01 (NY: 1904)

     The most uninformed mind, with a healthy body, is happier than the wisest valetudinarian.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. I, Ch. 1

     The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all his life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years; and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper, his talents could not have recommended him at any time.

   • 1884, Dixon Kemp, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing (4th Ed.)

     The cuisine, of course, would not be such as would raise water bubbles in the mouth of a valetudinarian; the carnivorous propensity will mostly be gratified by steak which, when cut, will resemble the Mudhook Yacht Club burgee of rouge et noir; and savory soups and luscious salmon will be luxuries only obtainable in "cannister" form.

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast

     Are you a mere valetudinarian, my dear Ladyship, or some prolific mendicant whose bewitched offspring she hopes I can return to human shape?

   • Louis Auchincloss

     She affected to be spunky about her ailments and afflictions, but she was in fact an utterly self-centered valetudinarian.

• valetudinary

• valetudinarianism

• hypochondriac

• valetudinarian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.