Neuralgy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Sharp, intense pain travelling along the course of a damaged or irritated nerve, often felt in the face or head
2. An archaic term for a severe, stabbing ache that follows the route of a nerve through the body
3. Acute nerve pain that flares in sudden bursts along the path a affected nerve takes through tissue

Etymology: "Neuralgy" is an archaic spelling of "neuralgia," and the word itself is a modern coinage built from Greek parts rather than something the ancients used. "Neuralgia" comes from New Latin, the Latinized scientific vocabulary of early modern and modern Europe, and it joins two Ancient Greek elements: "neûron," meaning "nerve," and "álgos," meaning "pain." Put together, the word literally describes pain in a nerve. The "-algia" ending is a productive scientific suffix, which is why it appears in many medical terms built on the same pattern. Writers who want the older spelling "neuralgy" are using a form that matches English spellings of the period before the -ia ending became standard, though the Greek sense of the parts remains the same.