anaesthesia

Alternative forms

• anæsthesia
• anesthesia (North American)

Etymology

an- +‎ aesthesia, from Ancient Greek ἀναισθησία (anaisthēsía), from ἀν- (an-, “not”) with αἴσθησις (aísthēsis, “sensation”).

Coined in 1846 CE by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in a letter to dentist William T. G. Morton, the first practitioner to publicly demonstrate the use of ether during surgery, writing:

Everybody wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give a hint or two as to names—or the name—to be applied to the state produced and the agent. The state should, I think, be called ‘Anaesthesia.’ This signifies insensibility—more particularly ... to objects of touch.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæn.əs.θiːz.i.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æn.əs.ˈθi.ʒə/

Noun

anaesthesia (countable and uncountable, plural anaesthesias)

1. (British, medicine) A method of preventing sensation, used to eliminate pain.
2. Loss or prevention of pain, as caused by anesthesia.

References