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Glite Dictionary
cerebral palsy

cerebral palsy

14 4.2
A long-term condition that limits movement and body position due to brain damage before or soon after birth
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛrəbrəl ˈpɔlzi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : parálisis cerebral
  • Her 15-year-old child had cerebral palsy, cognitive disabilities, and a complicated seizure disorder.
  • children with cerebral palsy
  • patients with cerebral palsy
  • severe cerebral palsy

Steps started because of my vicar's grandson was born with cerebral palsy and his parents were told he wouldn't even be able to turn over in bed.

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Examples

  • Some children with cerebral palsy are prone to hip dislocations if lifted or positioned improperly.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Limited use of Michael's left hand due to cerebral palsy impacted his ability to place food on trays prior to delivery.

    Academic text (2006)

  • - She has cerebral palsy.

    Green Street Hooligans 2 (2009)

  • I know it's a bother, but so is... cerebral palsy.

    The People Under the Stairs (1991)

  • As you know, I have a son, Gunner, who was born with cerebral palsy.

    The Circle (2017)

  • And John had cerebral palsy, so he had braces on his legs.

  • Now it's really important to remember cerebral palsy is a spectrum, so different people with CP have different symptoms.

  • I have cerebral palsy, and in my case, it's called spastic triplegia.

    Back in Time (2015)

  • Forty-four percent of the patients had cerebral palsy, and all suffered from scoliosis or kyphoscoliosis.

    Academic text (1996)

  • One little boy who suffers from cerebral palsy seemed in worse shape than the others.

Surface Forms

cerebral palsy singular
cerebral palsies plural

Morphology

cerebral + palsy

The term is directly composed of 'cerebral' (relating to the brain) and 'palsy' (paralysis), so the core meaning — a paralysis or motor disorder originating in the brain — is predictable from the constituents. This medical compound follows common cross-linguistic naming patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand the general meaning even if not all clinical specifics (timing or permanence) are implied.

Etymology

The term cerebral palsy joins cerebral (from a Latin word for the 'brain') and palsy (an old word for 'paralysis' or loss of movement). So the name points to a lasting movement problem caused by harm to the 'brain' around the time of 'birth'.