Hemianopia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A visual disorder marked by the absence of sight in one lateral half of the visual field
2. this condition leads to an impairment where vision is lacking on one side of the peripheral view
3. A medical condition characterized by blindness in one half of the field of vision

Etymology: Hemianopia is a technical coinage built from three Greek elements, each of which is itself an old and useful building block. "Hemi-" means "half," "an-" is the privative prefix meaning "without" (the same "an-" found in "anaerobic" or "anarchy"), and "-opia" comes from "ops," the Greek word for eye, giving the sense of a condition of the eyes or sight. Joined together, the word literally describes a condition of being without sight in half. The construction is typical of the medical vocabulary that scientists built in the modern era from classical materials, so the word is a product of recent scholarship rather than of ancient Greek speech. Its meaning is precise: the loss of vision affects one lateral half of the visual field, which is why the term fits so neatly with its parts.

Synonyms: hemianopsia