pica

/ˈpaɪkə/

/ˈpaɪkə/

Other forms: picas

Pica is a disorder that makes people want to eat things that aren't food. If you have a strange craving for plaster or seashells, you may have pica.

While pica is sometimes a psychological disorder, it's often caused by a nutritional deficiency. A person who's getting much less iron (or some other necessary mineral) in their diet than they need might crave things like dirt or stones. Pica can be dangerous, since the objects sufferers eat can poison them, like paint chips containing lead, or cause a blockage in their intestines. In Latin, pica means "magpie," a bird that eats a wide variety of foods.

Definitions of pica

1. noun

   an eating disorder, frequent in children, in which non-nutritional objects are eaten persistently
   types:

   geophagia, geophagy

   eating earth, clay, chalk; occurs in some primitive tribes, sometimes in cases of nutritional deficiency or obsessive behavior

   type of:

   eating disorder

   a disorder of the normal eating routine
2. noun

   a linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing
   synonyms: em, pica em

   type of:

   linear measure, linear unit

   a unit of measurement of length