Rickets is a disease that children can get when their food does not contain enough Vitamin D. It makes their bones soft and causes their liver and spleen to become too large.
rickets in British English
(ˈrɪkɪts)
noun
(functioning as singular or plural) pathology
a disease mainly of children, characterized by softening of developing bone, and hence bow legs, malnutrition, and enlargement of the liver and spleen, caused by a deficiency of vitamin D
Word origin
C17: of unknown origin
rickets in American English
(ˈrɪkɪts)
noun
a disease of the skeletal system, chiefly of children, resulting from absence of the normal effect of vitamin D in depositing calcium salts in the bone, and characterized by a softening and, often, bending of the bones: usually caused by a lack of vitamin D and insufficient exposure to sunlight