Aphasia
/əˈfeɪ.zi.ə/noun
A disorder that impairs a person's ability to understand or produce language.
Did you know?Aphasia comes from Greek medical language, where the prefix a- meant “without” and phasis was tied to speaking, so the word is built around the eerie idea of language being taken away.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
aphasía
“speechlessness; inability to speak”
Ancient Greek
Greek
a- + phásis
“without + speech, saying, or utterance”
Late Latin
Latin
aphasia
“medical term for loss of speech”
19th Century
English
aphasia
“a loss or impairment of language, especially from brain injury”
Modern English
English
aphasia
“a disorder affecting the ability to speak, understand, read, or write language”