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polyneuritis

polyneuritis

9.9
Inflammation of many nerves outside the brain and spine that causes weakness or numbness
  • noun
  • /ˌpɒlɪnjʊˈraɪtɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : polineuritis
  • The doctor diagnosed her with polyneuritis after she reported weakness in her legs.

Examples

  • He experienced numbness in his hands, which led to a diagnosis of polyneuritis.

  • In fact, with the exception of the relative surge of new pathologies like polyneuritis and the slight increase of some morbidity indicators during the first years of the decade, all health indicators have remained the same or improved towards the end of the 1990s, including infant mortality rates, hospital and community services, and life expectancy.

    Academic text (2004)
  • After several tests, the neurologist confirmed that the patient was suffering from polyneuritis.

Synonyms

multiple neuritis
vspolyneuritis
  • Specialized
8.0

Swelling of many nerves in the body that causes weakness and numbness

is the single-word technical name for the same nerve inflammation

Compounds

Swelling of many nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that causes pain, weakness and sometimes paralysis

Surface Forms

polyneuritis singular

Morphology

polyneuritis = neuritis (semi-transparent) = poly + neur + itis

The structure is clear as 'poly-' plus the medical base 'neuritis', but the base itself is technical and may not be fully familiar to an average learner.

Etymology

Polyneuritis comes from three parts: poly- meaning 'many', neur- meaning 'nerve', and -itis meaning 'inflammation', as in arthritis. So, polyneuritis is an 'inflammation' of many 'nerves', which is why it causes pain, weakness, or numbness in different parts of the body.