dementia praecox

See also: dementia præcox

English

Alternative forms
  • dementia præcox (obsolete)

Etymology

A Latin phrase coined in German (by Arnold Pick in 1891) and later adopted into English: dēmentia (“madness”, “insanity”) + praecox (“premature”, “untimely”) (whence the English precocious) = “untimely madness” ≈ “premature dementia” (here, dēmentia carries the connotation of senile dementia).

Noun

dementia praecox (usually uncountable, plural dementiae praecoces)

  1. (dated, psychiatry) schizophrenia

Translations
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.