epilepsy

English

Etymology

Since 16th century; borrowed from French épilepsie, from Latin epilēpsia, from Ancient Greek ἐπιληψίᾱ (epilēpsíā), from ἐπιλαμβάνω (epilambánō, “I seize”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “upon”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “I take”). Displaced native Old English fiellesēocnes (literally “falling sickness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛpɪlɛpsi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: ep‧i‧lep‧sy

Noun

epilepsy (countable and uncountable, plural epilepsies)

1. (pathology) A medical condition in which the sufferer experiences seizures (or convulsions) and blackouts.
   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

     Epilepsies, or fallings and reelings, and beastly vomitings. The least of these, even when the tongue begins to be untied, is a degree of drunkenness.

Derived terms

• epileptic
• epileptiform
• severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy

Translations

medical condition

• Albanian: epilepsi (sq) f, sëmundje e tokës f, botë (sq) f, shakull (sq) m, punëherë (sq) f
• Arabic: صَرْع m (ṣarʕ)
• Armenian: ընկնավորություն (hy) (ənknavorutʻyun)
• Assamese: আঁৱৰি (ãori)
• Asturian: epilepsia f
• Banjarese: gila babi, balawa
• Bengali: মৃগীরোগ (mrigirōg)
• Catalan: epilèpsia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 羊癲瘋／羊癫疯 (yángdiānfēng), 癲癇／癫痫 (zh) (diānxián), 癲癇癥／癫痫症 (diānxiánzhèng), 羊癇／羊痫 (yángxián), 羊癇瘋／羊痫疯 (yángxiánfēng), 羊角風／羊角风 (zh) (yángjiǎofēng)

• Czech: epilepsie (cs) f
• Danish: epilepsi c
• Dinka: nok
• Dutch: epilepsie (nl) f, vallende ziekte (nl)
• Esperanto: epilepsio
• Estonian: epilepsia (et), langetõbi (et)
• Finnish: epilepsia (fi)
• French: épilepsie (fr) f, mal caduc (fr)
• Galician: epilepsia f, gota (gl) f
• German: Epilepsie (de) f; (archaic) Fallsucht (de) f
• Greek: επιληψία (el) f (epilipsía)

  Ancient: ἐπιληψία f (epilēpsía)

• Haitian Creole: malkadi
• Hindi: अपस्मार (hi) m (apasmār), मिर्गी (hi) f (mirgī)
• Hungarian: epilepszia (hu)
• Icelandic: flogaveiki (is) f, flog (is) n, niðurfallssýki f
• Ido: epilepsio (io)
• Igbo: ájụ̀
• Indonesian: epilepsi (id), ayan (id)
• Ingrian: lankiivatauti
• Irish: titimeas m, an bhreoiteacht mhór f, galar titimeach m, galar Póil m, galar talmhaí m, an tinneas beannaithe m, an tinneas mór m, tinneas Póil m, tinneas talún m
• Italian: epilessia (it) f
• Japanese: 癲癇 (ja) (てんかん, tenkan)
• Javanese: ꦲꦪꦤ꧀ (jv) (ayan)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: فێ (fê)

• Latin: epilēpsia f
• Malay: epilepsi, gila babi, sawan (ms)
• Maori: hukihuki, hūkiki, mate hukihuki
• Minangkabau: ayan (min)
• Nias: faniri
• Nogai: талма (talma)
• Norman: épilepsie f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: epilepsi m

  Nynorsk: epilepsi m

• Odia: ଅପସ୍ମାର (or) (apasmāra)
• Old English: fiellesēocnes f
• Persian: صرع (fa) (sar')
• Plautdietsch: Aunstoot
• Polish: padaczka (pl) f, epilepsja (pl) f
• Portuguese: epilepsia (pt) f
• Russian: эпиле́псия (ru) f (epilépsija), паду́чая (ru) f (padúčaja) (obsolete)
• Sanskrit: अपस्मार (sa) m (apasmāra)
• Scottish Gaelic: tuiteamas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: епилѐпсија f, па̏давица f

  Roman: epilèpsija (sh) f, pȁdavica (sh) f

• Slovene: epilepsija (sl) f, božjast (sl) f
• Somali: qallal
• Spanish: epilepsia (es) f
• Sundanese: épilépsi, ayan
• Swahili: kifafa (sw)
• Swedish: epilepsi (sv) c
• Tagalog: kisay, gotakural
• Thai: ลมชัก (lom-chák), ลมบ้าหมู (lom-bâa-mǔu)
• Tocharian B: apasmār
• Turkish: tutarak (tr), tutarık (tr), tutarga (tr), yilbik (tr), sara (tr), epilepsi (tr)
• Tày: bả mu
• Vietnamese: động kinh
• Volapük: peiläp (vo)
• Welsh: epilepsi m

See also

• falling sickness
• grand mal
• petit mal