neuropraxia

English

Etymology

Mistaken reanalysis of neurapraxia (neur- + apraxia) as if it were neuro- + *praxia; this is etymologically nonsensical because the a- in apraxia represents the negating prefix (in the New Latin original) to mean the opposite of what the unrealized form *praxia would mean.

Noun

neuropraxia (usually uncountable, plural neuropraxias)

1. (medicine, pathology) Alternative form of neurapraxia.

Usage notes

Because of the inconsistent etymology, at least one major dictionary marks neuropraxia as a misspelling rather than a variant. However, the form is very widely used, and at least one other major dictionary enters this form as a variant without any usage label.

Related terms

• neuropraxic
• neuropraxis