Choreic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to an involuntary movement disorder that results in rapid, irregular, and non-repetitive actions
2. Connected to a neurological condition characterized by irregular, abrupt, and uncontrolled motor behaviors
3. Describing movements that are quick, unpredictable, and involuntary, typically seen in certain motor disorders

Etymology: "Choreic" is a plain technical formation: it takes "chorea", the medical term for involuntary, jerky, dance-like movements, and adds the adjective-forming suffix "-ic". So a choreic movement is one that belongs to chorea. The noun "chorea" itself comes from the Greek "choreia", meaning a dance performed by a chorus, and the link to dancing is the heart of the story. Doctors borrowed the classical word because the uncontrolled limb movements of the disease looked like a frenzied, unchoreographed dance. The name carries that picture into clinical language, which is why a condition of involuntary twitching is named after the dance of the Greek chorus.