Autistic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɔːˈtɪs.tɪk/

Definitions

1. Pertaining to a neurodevelopmental condition that affects social skills, communication, and behavior while encompassing a wide range of characteristics and intensities seen in different individuals
2. Describing a condition linked to variations in brain development that can lead to difficulty in social interactions, communication, and repetitive behaviors, varying greatly among those affected
3. Connected to a developmental difference that influences how a person interacts socially and communicates with others

Etymology: The word was built from "autism," which Eugen Bleuler coined in 1911 from the Greek "autos" ("self") to describe a withdrawal into one's own inner world, a sense quite unlike the modern one. Bleuler used it for a symptom of schizophrenia, not as a condition in its own right. The adjective "autistic" followed in 1913, when it was attached to that same withdrawn, self-absorbed state. The meaning shifted in 1943, when the American psychiatrist Leo Kanner published a paper describing a group of children who shared an early onset of social withdrawal, language differences and insistence on sameness. Kanner borrowed the existing term for these children, and the clinical sense of "autistic" took shape from his description. The word thus moved from a symptom of adult psychosis to a label for a distinct developmental condition.

Synonyms: developmentally disabled, neurodivergent