paralysis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”). By surface analysis, para- +‎ -lysis. Doublet of palsy.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /pəˈɹæləsəs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

paralysis (countable and uncountable, plural paralyses)

1. (pathology) The complete loss of voluntary control of part of a person's body, such as one or more limbs.
2. A state of being unable to act.

   The government has been in a paralysis since it lost its majority in the parliament.

   • 2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Until then, the Sunak administration remains a study in ineffectuality on multiple fronts, leading Goldsmith to cite, not unreasonably, “a kind of paralysis”.

Synonyms

• immobility
• palsy

Derived terms

• acroparalysis
• analysis paralysis
• angioparalysis
• Australian paralysis tick
• Chronic bee paralysis virus
• chronic bee paralysis virus
• fowl paralysis
• general paralysis
• general paralysis of the insane
• hemiparalysis
• immunoparalysis
• infantile paralysis
• iridoparalysis
• keraunoparalysis
• laryngoparalysis
• neuroparalysis
• paralysis agitans
• paralysis by analysis
• paralysis tick
• pseudoparalysis
• sleep paralysis
• telegrapher's paralysis
• tick paralysis
• vasoparalysis

 

Related terms

• paralyse/paralyze
• paralytic

Translations

loss of muscle control

• Albanian: paralizë (sq) f
• Arabic: شَلَل m (šalal), فَالَج m (fālaj)
• Armenian: կաթվածահարություն (hy) (katʻvacaharutʻyun)
• Asturian: paralís m, parálisis f
• Azerbaijani: iflic (az)
• Belarusian: пара́ліч m (parálič)
• Bulgarian: пара́лиза (bg) f (paráliza)
• Catalan: paràlisi f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 癱瘓／瘫痪 (zh) (tānhuàn), 麻痹 (zh) (mábì) (traditional variant: 痲痺／痳痹 (zh) (mábì))

• Crimean Tatar: nüzül
• Czech: ochrnutí n, paralýza f
• Danish: paralyse c, lammelse c
• Dutch: verlamming (nl) f
• Esperanto: paralizo
• Estonian: halvatus
• Faroese: lamningur m, lammilsi n
• Finnish: halvaus (fi)
• French: paralysie (fr) f
• Georgian: დამბლა (dambla)
• German: Paralyse (de) f, Lähmung (de) f
• Greek: παράλυση (el) f (parálysi)

  Ancient: παράλυσις f (parálusis)

• Hebrew: שיתוק \ שִׁתּוּק (he) m (shitúk)
• Hindi: लक़वा (laqvā), पक्षाघात (hi) m (pakṣāghāt), अंगघात (aṅgghāt), फ़ालिज (fālij)
• Hungarian: bénulás (hu), paralízis (hu), megbénulás (hu), lebénulás, parézis
• Icelandic: lömun (is) f
• Italian: paralisi (it)
• Japanese: まひ状態 (まひじょうたい, mahijōtei), 麻痺 (ja) (まひ, mahi)
• Kazakh: сал (sal), паралич (paraliç)
• Korean: 마비(痲痺) (ko) (mabi)
• Kyrgyz: шал (ky) (şal), паралич (paralic)
• Lao: ອຳມະພາດ (ʼam ma phāt)
• Latin: paralysis f
• Latvian: paralīze f
• Lithuanian: paralyžius m
• Macedonian: парали́за f (paralíza)
• Malay: kelumpuhan
• Manx: neulheiltys m
• Maori: mate rōrā
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: саа (mn) (saa)

  Mongolian:ᠰᠠ (sa)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lammelse m

• Occitan: paralisi (oc) f
• Persian: فلج (fa) (falaj)
• Polish: paraliż (pl) m, porażenie (pl) n, bezwład m
• Portuguese: paralisia (pt) f
• Romanian: paralizie (ro) f
• Russian: парали́ч (ru) m (paralíč), парализо́ванность (ru) f (paralizóvannostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: парали́за f

  Roman: paralíza (sh) f

• Slovak: ochrnutie n, paralýza f
• Slovene: paraliza f, ohromelost f
• Spanish: parálisis (es)
• Swedish: paralys c, förlamning (sv) c
• Tajik: фалаҷ (falaj)
• Telugu: పక్షవాతము (te) (pakṣavātamu)
• Thai: อัมพาต (th) (am-má-pâat)
• Turkish: felç (tr), inme (tr)
• Ukrainian: пара́ліч m (parálič)
• Urdu: لَقْوَہ m (laqvā), فالِج (fālij)
• Uzbek: paralich (uz), shol (uz), falaj (uz)
• Vietnamese: liệt (vi)
• Volapük: lem (vo)

state of inability to act

• Finnish: lama (fi), lamaannus (fi)
• Hungarian: bénultság (hu), cselekvésképtelenség, tehetetlenség (hu)
• Occitan: paralisi (oc) f
• Polish: paraliż (pl) m, niemoc (pl) f, bezwład m
• Russian: парали́ч (ru) m (paralíč)

See also

• -plegia: paraplegia, quadriplegia etc.
• paresis

Further reading

• “paralysis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “paralysis”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “paralysis”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /paˈra.ly.sis/, [päˈrälʲʏs̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /paˈra.li.sis/, [päˈräːlis̬is]

Noun

paralysis f (genitive paralysis or paralyseōs or paralysios); third declension

1. paralysis, palsy

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	paralysis	paralysēs paralyseis
Genitive	paralysis paralyseōs paralysios	paralysium
Dative	paralysī	paralysibus
Accusative	paralysim paralysin paralysem1	paralysēs paralysīs
Ablative	paralysī paralyse1	paralysibus
Vocative	paralysis paralysi	paralysēs paralyseis

¹Found sometimes in Medieval and New Latin.

Descendants

• Old French: parelisie
  • → English: palsy, paralysis
  • → Galician: perlesía, parálise

References

• “paralysis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• paralysis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.