El reúma

El reúma
 

I know ‘el reumatismo’ is masculine, but is the abbreviated Spanish form masculine or feminine?
Also, do we need the written accent on the ‘u’?

‘el reúma’ or ‘la reúma’

Many thanks in advance.

It's la foto and la tele and el boli, so it's natural that it would el el reuma. I am not sure that it is a common term. I have never heard it.

According to the DRAE entry, it can be spelled and pronounced either as two syllables reuma = /réu-ma/ or as three syllables reúma = /re-ú-ma/. It has ambiguous gender, although it is used more often in masculine than in feminine.

I agree with wrholt. The word can be either "reuma" or "reúma" and it can be both feminine or masculine, according to regional usage; it can be even used in plural.

- Mis reumas ya no me dejan caminar bien.
- El abuelo tiene muchos problemas por su reuma.
- ¡Ay, esta reúma que no me deja!
- Señora Mary, ¿cómo va de su reuma?


@Poli: The word is very common to talk about the pain that older people feel when the weather changes. :)