word blindness
- noun
- /wɜrd ˈblaɪndnəs/
- Specialized
:
ceguera de palabras
- Living with word blindness can make reading even simple texts a frustrating experience.
Examples
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(The tendency of parts of words or even whole words to simply not appear is one of the reasons dyslexia used to be referred to as "word blindness.")
Academic text (1998) -
Both had symptoms of so-called at that time word blindness, and each was unable to read words.
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He realized that for congenital word blindness, treatment meant extending his perspective to include the educational establishment itself.
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Second, word blindness refers to what is perhaps the most salient observable feature of reading disability, namely, an inability to efficiently read the words on a page.
Academic text (2014) -
After his accident, he developed word blindness, which made it difficult for him to understand written instructions.
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Teachers need to be aware of conditions like word blindness to provide appropriate support for students struggling with reading.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A condition in which a person loses the ability to read, often after brain damage
A problem that makes a person unable to understand written words despite normal eyesight
Surface Forms
Morphology
word + blindness
The meaning 'an inability to perceive written words' is directly derivable by applying 'blindness' (inability to see) to 'word' (written units), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the compound meaning. This follows a common compounding pattern in English (e.g., 'color blindness') and is conceptually transparent across many languages, making it accessible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Word blindness comes from a simple picture: a person can see the page but not the words, so the blindness is to written language. That's why the term means 'can't read' even when eyesight is fine, often after a brain injury or in a developmental condition.