Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Dyskinesia
/ˌdɪskɪˈniːʒə/noun
Involuntary movement a person cannot suppress, often of the face, tongue or limbs.
The Greek roots
δυσ-
dys-
bad, disordered
κίνησις
kínēsis
movement
Literally: “bad movement”
The story of the word
Tardive dyskinesia is the best known form, arriving late in years of treatment with drugs that block dopamine. The prefix means malfunctioning rather than missing, which is exactly what separates it from akinesia; Greek used dys- that way throughout, as the mirror of eu-, well. A patient on levodopa can swing between the two inside a single dose.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
akinesiadyslexiadyspepsiakinetic
In a sentence
The dyskinesia was mild at first, a constant small movement of the jaw.