aphonia

[ ey-foh-nee-uh ]

/ eɪˈfoʊ ni ə /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR aphonia ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Pathology.

loss of voice, especially due to an organic or functional disturbance of the vocal organs.

RELATED WORDS

freeze, butterflies, mutism

Nearby words

Origin of aphonia

1770–80; < New Latin < Greek: speechlessness. See a-⁶, phon-, -ia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for aphonia

Each time on her disappearance he had an attack of aphonia, inability to utter a sound of any kind.
Psychotherapy|James J. Walsh
The same may be said of feigned insanity, aphonia, deaf-mutism, and loss of memory.
Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology|W. G. Aitchison Robertson
In these cases there is marked stridor both on inspiration and expiration, but no aphonia.
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities--Head--Neck. Sixth Edition.|Alexander Miles
It would cheer me considerably to learn that gobblers occasionally suffer from aphonia or speechlessness.
The Red Cow and Her Friends|Peter McArthur

Both wounds gradually healed; but aphonia—the voice being reduced to a whisper—existed when the man left the regimental hospital.
A Treatise on Gunshot Wounds|Thomas Longmore

British Dictionary definitions for aphonia

aphonia

aphony (ˈæfənɪ)

/ (əˈfəʊnɪə) /

noun

loss of the voice caused by damage to the vocal tract

Word Origin for aphonia

C18: via New Latin from Greek, from a- 1 + phōnē sound, voice

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aphonia

aphonia

"want of voice, loss of voice, having no sound," 1719, from Modern Latin aphonia, from Greek aphonia "speechlessness," noun of quality from aphonos "voiceless," from a-, privative prefix (see a- (3)), + phone "voice" (see fame (n.)). Less-common anglicized form aphony is attested from 1827.

Medicine definitions for aphonia

aphonia

[ ā-fō′nē-ə ]

n.

Loss of the voice resulting from disease, injury to the vocal cords, or psychological causes, such as hysteria.

Related formsa•phon′ic (ā-fŏn′ĭk, ā-fō′nĭk) adj.