aphonia

[ey-foh-nee-uh]

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

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

Historical Examples of aphonia

If the recurrent laryngeal nerve be compressed, there will be dysphonia or aphonia.
A System of Practical Medicine By American Authors, Vol. II
Various
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
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
There is no aphonia, a sign so typical of adult and of infantile beriberi, although at times the voice is abnormal and whining.
Scurvy Past and Present
Alfred Fabian Hess
It would cheer me considerably to learn that gobblers occasionally suffer from aphonia or speechlessness.
The Red Cow and Her Friends
Peter McArthur

British Dictionary definitions for aphonia

aphonia

aphony (ˈæfənɪ)

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

"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.