aphasia

noun

apha·​sia ə-ˈfā-zh(ē-)ə 

medical : loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage (as from a stroke, head injury, or infection)

Aphasia, the cruel illness resulting from a stroke, allowed Jean to understand what was said to her but prevented her from clearly replying.

—Robert Giroux

aphasic

ə-ˈfā-zik 

noun or adjective

Examples of aphasia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Willis' family shared in February 2023 that the actor, who turns 70 later this month, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, after revealing an aphasia diagnosis the previous year. —Jen Juneau, People.com, 7 Mar. 2025

After her stroke, O'Neal remained hospitalized in a coma for six weeks, and she was left with lingering aphasia, which impacted her ability to speak, read and write. —Ashley Hume, Fox News, 28 Feb. 2025

The famous family announced in 2022 that the Die Hard star, 69, was suffering from aphasia, with the diagnosis later updated to include frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive neurological disorder. —Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024

The former talk-show host has been in a care facility since September 2022, and in February 2024 her care team announced she had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aggressive aphasia, partly due to alcohol abuse. —Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 13 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French aphasie, from a- a- entry 2 + Greek phásis "utterance, statement" (from pha-, variant stem of phēmí, phánai "to say, speak" + -sis -sis) + French -ie -ia entry 1 — more at ban entry 1

Note: French aphasie was introduced by the physician Armand Trousseau (1801-67) in "De l'aphasie, maladie décrite récemment sous le nom impropre de l'aphémie," Gazette des hôpitaux civils et militaires, tome 37, issue of January 12, 1864, pp. 13-14. As is evident from the title, Trousseau preferred aphasie to the term aphémie, introduced earlier by physician and anthropologist Pierre Paul Broca (1824-80). Broca replied in defense of his coinage in a letter published in the same periodical on January 23. The controversy, with translated extracts from Gazette des hôpitaux, is summarized by John Ryalls in "Where does the term 'aphasia' come from?," Brain and Language, vol. 21 (1984), pp. 358-63. Though Trousseau's arguments are linguistically not at all sound, his choice has nonetheless prevailed.

First Known Use

1864, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for aphasia

• aplasia
• dysplasia
• fantasia
• achalasia
• euthanasia
• hyperplasia
• hypoplasia
• metaplasia
• neoplasia
• telangiectasia

Medical Definition

aphasia

noun

apha·​sia ə-ˈfā-zh(ē-)ə 

: loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage (as from a stroke, head injury, or infection) see motor aphasia compare amusia, anarthria