Dyslectics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who experience difficulty with reading and writing due to a neurological condition affecting language processing
2. People characterized by challenges in decoding words and spelling accurately, often related to a cognitive disorder impacting literacy skills
3. Persons affected by a learning impairment that hinders proficient reading and writing, commonly involving difficulties in processing written language

Etymology: "Dyslectics" is the plural of "dyslectic," a noun for people with difficulty reading and writing. The word is a doublet of "dyslexic," meaning the two come from the same source but reached English by different routes and took slightly different shapes. Both are built from Greek roots: the prefix "dys-," meaning "bad" or "difficult," and "lexis," meaning "word" or "speech," the same root that gives us "lexicon." The "-ic" ending in "dyslectic" is the Greek adjectival suffix, which is why it sounds like "dyslectic" in the same family as "bibliophilic" and "phonetic." The "-ia" and "-ic" variants of the same word were formed from "dyslexia" and "dyslexic" in a pattern that matches the way English adapts Greek compounds. Because "dyslexic" became the standard form, "dyslectic" is the less common variant, and its plural is used mostly in informal or older writing.

Synonyms: dyslexics, reading disabled, learning disabled

Antonyms: normal readers