Microcephaly
/ˌmaɪ.kroʊˈsɛf.ə.li/noun
A condition in which a person’s head is significantly smaller than expected, often due to abnormal brain development.
Did you know?Microcephaly is built from Greek mikrós (“small”) + kephalḗ (“head”), and that same kephal- root also gave us words like “cephalic,” showing how ancient body-language became scientific language.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
grc
mikrós + kephalḗ
“small + head”
Modern Latin
la
microcephalia
“a medical term for abnormal smallness of the head”
19th Century
English
microcephaly
“a clinical term for unusually small head size”
Modern English
en
microcephaly
“a condition marked by an abnormally small head, usually reflecting impaired brain growth”
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