Tetanospasm

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A violent, involuntary contraction of muscles caused by the toxin of the tetanus bacterium affecting the nervous system
2. An abrupt and painful muscle seizure produced when the bacterial poison of tetanus overstimulates nerve signals
3. A severe, uncontrollable tightening of the muscles brought on by the toxin released during a tetanus infection

Etymology: Tetanospasm is a medical coinage, not an ancient word. It was formed in the nineteenth century from "tetanus" and "spasm," the second element coming from Greek "spasmos," meaning a convulsion or drawing-in. Tetanus itself comes from Greek "tetanos," meaning stretched or taut, a reference to the rigid, rope-like contraction of the muscles that the disease produces. The word thus describes a single violent seizure caused by the tetanus bacterium's toxin. Its formation is a neat example of how physicians build precise terms from older roots. "Tetanus" was already in English medical use by the sixteenth century, and "spasm" entered English from Latin and Greek in the late fourteenth century. Combining the two gave clinicians a way to name one episode of the disease's characteristic cramping rather than the illness as a whole.

Synonyms: tetanic spasm