Although the anaemia associated with chronic disorders is one of the most frequently encountered forms of anaemia, particularly in hospital patients, it has not received the distinction which it deserves, in part, perhaps, because of the lack of an appropriate name. The term ‘simple chronic anaemia’ is most inappropriate because the pathogenesis of the anaemia involves the delicate control mechanisms of erythropoiesis and these are not simple. The title ‘anaemia of chronic infections’ is much too restrictive, for the anaemia occurs in patients with cancer, lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, collagen vascular diseases, fractures, severe tissue injury and many other disorders. ‘Anaemia of chronic disorders’, though a less restrictive title, is unsatisfactory because many other types of anaemia occur in these disorders, such as blood loss, overt haemolytic anaemia of various types, reactions to drugs, myelophthisic anaemia, and the anaemia of renal failure. Furthermore, the name gives no hint as to the diagnostic features or pathogenesis of the anaemia. A more descriptive, but somewhat more cumbersome, title might be ‘sideropenic anaemia with reticuloendothelial siderosis.’