Areflexia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical syndrome identified by the complete absence of reflexes in response to physiological stimuli
2. A condition characterized by the lack of normal involuntary responses to stimuli, indicating absence of reflexes
3. The total failure of reflex movements to occur when the body is stimulated, showing no automatic reaction

Etymology: "Areflexia" is a plain technical coinage built from three pieces. The prefix "a-" (from Greek, meaning "without" or "not") is attached to "reflex," which comes from Latin "reflexus," meaning "bent back," and then the suffix "-ia," a Greek-derived ending used to form names of medical conditions and states, is added to create a noun for the condition itself. Put together, the word literally means "a state of being without reflex." Its usage belongs to the vocabulary of modern medicine and neurology, where "reflex" was adopted in its physiological sense of an involuntary response to stimulus. The word is therefore a product of scientific naming rather than an ancient or everyday term, and its meaning stays close to its parts: the absence of the automatic bodily response.

Synonyms: reflex loss