formication means an abnormal skin sensation similar to that of insects crawling over or within the skin; a tactile hallucination involving such a sensation. A common side-effect of substance abuse, it can also be experienced with high fever, menopause, skin cancer, diabetic neuropathy, or herpes zoster.
Why “formication” is a great word
An abnormal skin sensation likened to insects crawling over or within the skin. From Latin formīcātiōn-, stem of formīcātiō, from formīca ("ant") + -tiō (suffix forming nouns of action), literally meaning "a sensation of ants crawling"; first attested in English circa 1700. Unlike "fornication," its homophone of consensual union, or "paresthesia," the clinical blanket for all tingles, formication is a singular, specific haunting of the surface. It is the phantom march under the skin of the sobering addict, the desperate itch of the fevered patient, and the uncountable, invisible legs scuttling across the scalp in the deep silent night—a tactile hallucination that transforms abstract nerve misfire into the ancient horror of being infested while remaining, inescapably, alone inside one's own skin.
Etymology
Circa 1700, from Latin formīca (“ant”) + -tion.
noun
- An abnormal skin sensation similar to that of insects crawling over or within the skin; a tactile hallucination involving such a sensation. A common side-effect of substance abuse, it can also be experienced with high fever, menopause, skin cancer, diabetic neuropathy, or herpes zoster.“Soon the formications and muscular debility returned, not alone, but accompanied with painful cramps and startlings in the feet and calves of the legs.”
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