Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Phrenic
/ˈfrɛnɪk/adjective
Belonging to the diaphragm, especially the nerve that drives it.
The Greek roots
φρήν
phrḗn
diaphragm, midriff, mind
Literally: “of the midriff”
Follow a root:φρήν5 words
The story of the word
Greek φρήν meant the diaphragm and the midriff, and also the seat of thought: Homer's people make their decisions in their φρένες, not in their heads. Anatomy kept the first sense and psychiatry kept the second, so the phrenic nerve and schizophrenia descend from one word. Ancient physicians called delirium φρενῖτις, inflammation of the midriff, which is where frenzy comes from.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → New Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
schizophreniafrenzyphrenologyfrantic
In a sentence
A knock to the phrenic nerve on one side leaves that half of the diaphragm sitting still.
Hiccups are a phrenic problem, not a stomach one.