aphasia · noun — A partial or total loss of language skills due to brain damage. Usually, damage to the left perisylvian region, including Broca's area and Wernicke's area, causes aphasia. It carries an Arena rating of 1426, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, aphasia ranks #374 of 17,177 for Most Incisive Words, #2,092 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words, #2,170 of 17,195 for Most Exacting Words, #4,470 of 17,163 for Most Sublime Words.
aphasia is pronounced /əˈfeɪzɪə/.
Why “aphasia” is a great word
The loss of the ability to comprehend or formulate language, typically from injury to specific brain regions. From French aphasie, from Ancient Greek ἀφασία (aphasía, 'speechlessness'), from ἀ- (a-, 'not') + φάσις (phásis, 'speech'), first attested in English in the 1860s. Unlike 'dysphasia' (which can suggest a milder impairment) or 'dysarthria' (a purely motor failure of articulation), aphasia is a central rupture in the symbolic code itself. It is the dictionary dissolving into static, the sentence collapsing mid-construction, the familiar name hovering just beyond reach—leaving the sufferer stranded in a world where the bridge between mind and mouth has been severed, and the self becomes, moment by moment, unutterable.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From French aphasie, from Ancient Greek ἀφασία (aphasía), from ἄφατος (áphatos, “speechless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + φάσις (phásis, “speech”). Equivalent to a- + -phasia.
noun
- A partial or total loss of language skills due to brain damage. Usually, damage to the left perisylvian region, including Broca's area and Wernicke's area, causes aphasia.e.g.“The very disease aphasia is to most of us a new one; and we venture to say that even yet no one can give a satisfactory definition of Trousseau's new term.” — 1865, “Discussions upon Aphasia”, in Medical and Surgical Reporter, volume 8, page 197:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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