Cyanopsia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A visual condition in which objects appear tinged with blue, caused by certain eye diseases or by ingesting some substances
2. Seeing the world with a bluish cast, a distortion of color perception sometimes resulting from cataract surgery or medication
3. The perception of everything looking blue, a rare disturbance of sight in which the colors of the visible world shift toward blue

Etymology: Cyanopsia is a medical term for a condition in which everything looks tinted blue, and its parts are older than the word itself. The first part comes from Greek "kyanos", a dark blue substance, which traces back to an ancient word for blue-black pigment or enamel. The second part, "-opsia", comes from Greek "opsis", meaning sight, and is the same element found in words like "diplopia" (double vision) and "amblyopia" (dim vision). Put together, the term describes blue-tinted sight in exactly the way those medical words describe other visual conditions. The word is a modern coinage built from classical parts, not a term used by ancient physicians. Greek writers had words for blue, but the compound was assembled later by people describing eye conditions in scientific language, which is why it follows the same pattern as other vision disorders.