the.com/meningitis

means An inflammation of the meninges — the protective membranes wrapping the brain and spinal cord — usually caused by a viral or bacterial infection, and medically urgent.

from Built from Greek 'meninx' (membrane) plus the medical suffix '-itis' (inflammation), the same suffix found in arthritis and bronchitis. 'Meninx' itself simply meant a thin skin or membrane in Greek — anatomists borrowed it to name the layers wrapping the brain, and 19th-century medicine bolted on '-itis' once doctors began classifying diseases systematically by naming the inflamed tissue directly.