Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Ataxia
/əˈtæksiə/noun
Loss of coordination in voluntary movement, typically from damage to the cerebellum or its pathways.
The Greek roots
ἀ-
a-
not, without
τάξις
táxis
order, arrangement
Literally: “without order”
The story of the word
τάξις is a military word first, the drawing-up of a battle line, and ἀταξία is what happens when the ranks break; the medical sense keeps the image exactly, since an ataxic limb has strength but no discipline. English used ataxy for general disorder in the seventeenth century before neurology narrowed it. Nikolaus Friedreich described the inherited form in 1863, and it still carries his name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
taxonomysyntaxtacticshypotaxis
In a sentence
The ataxia showed up first in her handwriting, months before she noticed it in her walking.