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epilepsy

EP-uh-lep-see · noun

Ancient GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Origin

Epilepsy entered English in the 16th century from French épilepsie, from Latin epilēpsia, from Ancient Greek ἐπιληψίᾱ (epilēpsíā). That Greek word comes from ἐπιλαμβάνω (epilambánō, 'to seize'), built from ἐπι- ('upon') plus λαμβάνω ('to take').

Journey

The word displaced the native Old English term fiellesēocnes, literally 'falling sickness,' which had described the condition before the Greek-derived term took over.

Related words

The facts given don't point to another English word sharing this same Greek root, so no cognate can be named here.

More words

From French

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