Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
- noun
- /ˈʒil də lə tuˈrɛt ˈsɪnˌdroʊm/
- Specialized
:
síndrome de Gilles de la Tourette
- The doctor diagnosed the child with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome after observing a range of motor and vocal tics.
Examples
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People with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome may experience sudden, involuntary movements and sounds.
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Many people with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome experience involuntary tics.
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Research into Gilles de la Tourette syndrome has advanced our understanding of complex neurological conditions.
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What are the symptoms of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome?
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The doctor diagnosed the child with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome after observing a range of motor and vocal tics.
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People with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome may experience sudden, involuntary movements and sounds.
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Many people with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome experience involuntary tics.
Synonyms
4
6.2
A brain condition that causes repeated movements and sounds you cannot control
1
4.9
A brain condition that makes people make sudden movements or sounds they cannot control
How Severe
- Specialized
35
6.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
Gilles + de + la + Tourette + syndrome
This is an eponymic medical name: a proper name ('Gilles de la Tourette') plus 'syndrome', so a learner who knows the parts will infer it is some kind of medical/clinical syndrome but will not be able to derive the specific content (involuntary tics, coprolalia). Because the headwords give partial information (that it is a syndrome) but the crucial clinical meaning is not encoded in the constituent words, the expression is only partially transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is named after the French doctor Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first wrote about people with sudden, uncontrolled movements and sounds in the late 1800s. That's why the name now refers to the condition of 'tics' and sometimes the sudden, uncontrollable saying of 'rude words'.