rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryaphasiaImpaired language ability
noun

aphasia

uh-FAY-zhuh/əˈfeɪʒə/

Loss or impairment of language ability caused by brain damage.

The therapist helps a patient with aphasia practice naming familiar objects.

A compact two-moment clinical assessment contrasts preserved understanding of a familiar object's use with difficulty retrieving its name: the patient easily uses a key, then visibly struggles during an object-naming exercise with that same key.
Etymology
aGreekwithout
+phasiaGreekutterance

The pieces express “without utterance,” the image behind Greek “speechlessness.” In the selected medical sense, the impairment concerns language more broadly, including understanding as well as speaking.

In context

Dr Ashok Jansari NeuroTalk9:18
… we move to aphasia which is a language disorder caused by different types of strokes and also the sort of that happens with aging
Confabulation, Capgras & Cotard's: The Amazing Insights From Brain Disorders (part 1)

More examples

  • His aphasia affects reading as well as speech.
  • The assessment examines how aphasia has changed her communication.
  • The family learns ways to communicate with someone experiencing aphasia.

Similar words

dysarthria
Impairs speech production through muscle control rather than language itself.