paralysis

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin paralysis (“loss of the ability to move a part of the body”),^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “loosening; disabling of the nerves, palsy”),^[2][3][6] from παραλύω (paralúō, “to loose, detach, disable, enfeeble”),^[2][6][3] formed from παρά (pará, “beside”) and λύω (lúō, “to loosen, untie”).^[3][6][5][4] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford explain it from the passive of the verb, to be loosened or disabled at the side.^[7][8] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the Greek verb to Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”),^[3][5] and Klein relates it to Latin luō (“to loose, release; to atone for”) and to Old English forlēosan (“to lose; to destroy”), whence lose.^[6][4] Old English already had the word, as paralisin, from the Latin accusative; the OED compares Old French paralisin (c. 1190), and finds that the word fell out of use in early Middle English and was borrowed again in the 16th century.^[2][9] In between, Middle English used paralisie, from Old French.^[9][3] The same Greek word, through Old French, gave palsy, a doublet of paralysis.^[4][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Loss of the power to move, or to feel in, a part of the body: the Old English form is recorded in the early Old English Bald's Leechbook,^[2] and the modern form from 1525.^[4][10][3]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the usual English word for the condition was palsy;^[3][9] Johnson (1755) defined paralysis simply as "a palsy",^[11] and Etymonline gives Old English lyft adl and crypelnes as native equivalents.^[3] The figurative sense, a state of helplessness or an inability to act or function, is recorded from 1809, in Charles Dibdin,^[2] but only from 1813 in Etymonline.^[3] From 1820 the word was also used of paralysis of the whole body, and later of general paralysis of the insane, a late stage of syphilis.^[2] The verb paralyse (US paralyze) came into English in the 19th century from French paralyser, and the adjective paralytic already in the 14th century, through Old French and Latin from Greek;^[7][4] the sense of paralytic "extremely drunk" dates from the mid 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• early Old English – paralisin, in Bald's Leechbook.^[2]
• late 14th century – Middle English paralisie.^[3]
• 1525 – the modern form, borrowed again from Latin.^[4][10][3]
• 1809 – figurative, helplessness, inability to act.^[2]
• 1820 – paralysis of the whole body; later general paralysis of the insane.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Complete or partial loss of the power to move, or of sensation, in a part of the body, usually caused by injury to or disease of the nerves or muscles: The stroke left her with paralysis of the left arm.^[13][10][2]
2. A state of being unable to act or function; a standstill: The strike brought paralysis to the ports.^[13][10][2]
3. A disease marked by such loss of function; palsy.^[13][10]

Word family

• semiparalysis
• pseudoparalysis
• general paralysis
• paralysis agitans
• infantile paralysis

Related words

• paralyse
• paralyze
• paralytic
• palsy
• analysis
• lose
• loose
• -lysis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins