Amblyopia
/ˌæmblioʊˈpiːə/noun
A condition in which vision in one or both eyes does not develop normally, often called “lazy eye.”
Did you know?The word is built from Greek amblýs (“blunt, dull”) + ōps (“eye, face, sight”), so the medical term itself encodes a kind of dimmed or blunted seeing.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
amblýōps / amblyōpía
“blunt-sightedness; dim or weak vision”
Late Latin
Latin
amblyopia
“medical term for dim vision or weak sight”
Middle French
French
amblyopie
“medical term for impaired vision”
17th–18th Century
English
amblyopia
“learned medical borrowing for weak or defective vision”
Modern English
English
amblyopia
“a disorder of reduced visual acuity, usually from abnormal visual development”
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