Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Bruxism
/ˈbrʌksɪzəm/noun
Habitual grinding or clenching of the teeth, usually during sleep.
The Greek roots
βρύκειν
brýkein
to gnash the teeth
Literally: “gnashing”
Follow a root:βρύκειν1 word
The story of the word
French dentists coined bruxomanie in the early twentieth century, and the shorter bruxism followed into English in the 1930s. The Greek verb described the noise animals make with their jaws, and its noun βρυγμός is the word behind the gnashing of teeth in the Greek New Testament. Dentists diagnose it from wear facets on the molars, often before the patient knows anything is happening.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 1930s
Same family
brygmus
In a sentence
A night guard sorted out the bruxism, though it took her a fortnight to sleep with it in.