aphasia
/əˈfeɪzɪə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.60 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
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.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Of one form of aphasia we have an accurate description by Van Swieten, in his chapter on apoplexia:―"Vidi plures, qui ab apoplexiâ curati omnibus functionibus cerebri recte valebant, nisi quod deesset, hoc unicum, quod non possent vera rebus designandis vocabula invenire.""
- "The Doctor came over in three minutes, and heard the story. ‘It's aphasia,’ he said."
- "Bruce Willis, the prolific action-movie star, has been diagnosed with aphasia — a disorder that affects the brain’s language center and a person’s ability to understand or express speech — and will step away from acting, his ex-wife, Demi Moore, announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday."
Etymology
From French aphasie, from Ancient Greek ἀφασία (aphasía), from ἄφατος (áphatos, “speechless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + φάσις (phásis, “speech”). Equivalent to a- + -phasia.
Origin
- Source language: French