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(a)esthesia
Aug. 15th, 2012 07:08 amesthesia (US) or aesthesia (es-THEE-zhuh, es-THEE-zhee-uh) - n., the ability to experience sensation or perception.
This could either be a 19th century borrowing directly from Greek aistēsía, sensation or perception, or a 20th century back-formation from an(a)esthesia, itself borrowed around 1720 from New Latin, from Greek anaisthēsía, want of feeling, from an-, not + the same root -- dictionaries disagree on the matter. They all agree, however, that the negative form is much more common.
---L.
This could either be a 19th century borrowing directly from Greek aistēsía, sensation or perception, or a 20th century back-formation from an(a)esthesia, itself borrowed around 1720 from New Latin, from Greek anaisthēsía, want of feeling, from an-, not + the same root -- dictionaries disagree on the matter. They all agree, however, that the negative form is much more common.
---L.
