dyslexia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪsˈlɛk.si.ə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Dyslexie (1883),^[2][3] a New Latin formation^[4][5][6] from Ancient Greek δυσ- (dus-, “bad, difficult”) and Ancient Greek λέξις (léxis, “word, speech”),^{[4][2][3][5][6]} from légein “to speak”,^[4][2][3][5] with the abstract noun ending -ia.^[3][6] Léxis was taken in the sense of reading.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A difficulty in reading due to a condition of the brain (1885 in Etymonline; 1886–88 in Barnhart).^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline quotes an 1887 account of a monograph by Professor Berlin, who described patients who could read only a few words in succession,^[3] and related the condition to the word-blindness described by Kussmaul.^[3] The noun dyslexic is recorded by 1946 in Etymonline, and both adjective and noun from 1961 in Barnhart.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1883 – German Dyslexie.^[3]
• 1885 – first recorded in English.^[3]
• 1961 – dyslexic.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A learning disability marked by difficulty in recognizing and understanding written words, and in reading, spelling and writing.

Word family

• dyslectic
• dyslexic

Related words

• alexia
• lexicon
• dys-

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House