anaphia

English

Etymology

From an- (“not”) + Ancient Greek ἁφή (haphḗ, “sense of touch”) + -ia. Or perhaps directly from Ancient Greek ἀναφής (anaphḗs, “impalpable”). For the middle element, compare haptic.

Noun

anaphia (uncountable)

1. (medicine, rare) Tactile anesthesia; the total or partial absence of the sense of touch.
   • 2017, Fei Tang, Ryan P. McMahan, Eric D. Ragan, Tandra T. Allen, “Subjective Evaluation of Tactile Fidelity for Single-Finger and Whole-Hand Touch Gestures”, in Jessie Chen, Stephanie Lackey, editors, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, Springer, page 198:

     Anaphia is the total or partial absence of the sense of touch. For research on tactile technologies and feedback, participants with anaphia can have a negative impact on potentially positive results.