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Glite Dictionary
aphagia

aphagia

9.9
Not being able to swallow food or drink
  • noun
  • /əˈfeɪdʒə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : afagia
  • Aphagia made it impossible for him to swallow pills without assistance.

Examples

  • After the accident, she suffered from aphagia and could not eat solid food.

  • Thanks for a wonderful contribution to expanding awareness about dysphagia/aphagia (difficulty/inability to swallow).

    Blog text (13)

  • The doctor explained that aphagia can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies.

Antonyms

swallow
20 1.0

A small amount of food or drink taken into the throat at once

How Difficult

aphagia
  • Specialized
9.9
dysphagic
  • Specialized
9.9
impaired
49 4.4
normal
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

aphagia singular
aphagias plural

Morphology

aphagia = phagia (opaque) = a + phag + ia

The formation uses Greek medical elements (a- + phag- + -ia) that are technical and not recognizable to an average B1 learner, so the meaning cannot be reliably derived.

Etymology

Aphagia comes from Greek parts a- meaning 'without' and phagein meaning 'to eat' or 'to swallow', and you can see the same -phagia in dysphagia. So aphagia means being 'without swallowing', which is why it describes the loss of the ability to swallow.