poikilothermia

[ poi-kuh-loh-thur-mee-uh, poi-kil-uh- ]

noun

1. Medicine/Medical. the inability to regulate core body temperature (as by sweating to cool off or by putting on clothes to warm up), found especially in some spinal cord injury patients and in patients under general anesthesia.
2. Zoology. poikilothermism.

Word History and Origins

Origin of poikilothermia¹

First recorded in 1910–15; from Greek poikilos “various” + therm- ( def ) + -ia ( def )