Tay-Sachs disease
- noun
- /teɪ sæks dɪˈziːz/
- Specialized
:
enfermedad de Tay-Sachs
- Doctors explain that Tay-Sachs disease results from a lack of a specific enzyme necessary for breaking down fats in the body.
Examples
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"Notes from a Dragon Mom" is Emily Rapp's story (and really, it's not a story but more a soul-shattering revelation) about parenting her son, Ronan, who has Tay-Sachs disease and will likely die before he turns three.
Blog text (26) -
We got these genetic tests and we were both positive - for Tay-Sachs disease.
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Children with Tay-Sachs disease typically appear healthy during their first few months but then begin to lose their skills.
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We got these genetic tests and we were both positive - for Tay-Sachs disease.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A rare inherited disease that destroys nerve cells and causes death in early childhood
1
9.9
A rare inherited illness where fat builds up in nerve cells and often causes death in early childhood
An inherited disease where fat builds up in the brain and causes early death in children
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is an eponymic medical name: knowing 'disease' only signals an illness, while 'Tay‑Sachs' is a proper name that gives no compositional cues about inheritance, lipid accumulation, affected tissues, or prognosis. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not be able to derive the specific meaning or severity of this condition from the parts alone, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Tay-Sachs disease is named after two doctors, Warren Tay and Bernard Sachs, who first wrote about the illness in children: Tay saw a bright red spot in the back of the eye and Sachs showed it often ran in families. That's why the name now means an illness passed down in families where fatty material builds up in a child's nerves and causes a rapid loss of skills and early death.