dyslexia

American  

[dis-lek-see-uh] / dɪsˈlɛk si ə /

noun

1. any of various reading disorders associated with difficulty decoding written language and integrating auditory and visual information, such as the association of phonemes with letter combinations in spelling.

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dyslexia British  

/ dɪsˈlɛksɪə, dɪsˈlɛktɪk /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: word blindness.  a developmental disorder which can cause learning difficulty in one or more of the areas of reading, writing, and numeracy

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dyslexia Scientific  

/ dĭs-lĕk′sē-ə /

1. A learning disability marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.

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dyslexia Cultural  

1. Difficulty in reading when experienced by persons with normal vision and normal or above-normal intelligence. A common example of dyslexia is reading words with the letters in reverse order, as in fyl for fly.

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Usage

Rather than talking about a person being dyslexic or about dyslexics , it is better to talk about a person with dyslexia , people with dyslexia

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dyslexic
  adjective
• dyslectic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of dyslexia

First recorded in 1885–90; from New Latin, from Greek dys- dys- + léx(is) “speech, text, word” ( see lexis) + -ia -ia

Explanation

Dyslexia is a reading disorder. People who have dyslexia have trouble matching the sounds in words with the letters and letter combinations that make those sounds. Dyslexia is from the Greek roots dys, "difficult," and lexis, "word." Although dyslexia literally means "difficulty with words," someone who has dyslexia may also have trouble in other areas like math, telling time, or even telling left and right. However, there's no lack of intelligence associated with dyslexia: famous dyslexics include Thomas Edison, John Lennon, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Example Sentences

Dyslexia affects as much as 20% of the population, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026

Dyslexia should not hold you back, the co-screenwriter of the latest Paddington film has said.

From BBC • Nov. 17, 2024

Dyslexia is also not writing your E's and K's backwards – that's dysgraphia – and there's actually no evidence that dyslexics flip or reverse letters.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2023

Although Ally doesn’t know it yet, she has dyslexia, a learning disability that, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, affects 20 percent of the population.

From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2023

Dyslexia is about the letters going all faded or fat.

From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor