Ancient Greek and Roman system of medicine involving four fluid types
This article is about humors in ancient and medieval medicine. For the related theory of temperaments, see Four temperaments. For humors in Ayurveda, see Dosha. For the use of humor in writing or public speaking, see Humorist.
16th-century German illustration of the four humors: Flegmat (phlegm), Sanguin (blood), Coleric (yellow bile) and Melanc (black bile), divided between the male and female sexes
Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers.
Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 17th century and it was definitively disproved with the discovery of microbes.