Etymology

tetraplegia

T1E1T1R1A1P3L1E1G2I1A1

Today it means: Paralysis of all four limbs. Full definition →

English tetra- ← Ancient Greek τετρᾰ- (tetră-) ← Proto-Hellenic *kʷétwores
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷetwóres
  2. Proto-Hellenic*kʷétwores
  3. Ancient Greekτέσσᾰρες (téssăres)
  4. Ancient Greekτετρᾰ- (tetră-)
  5. Englishtetra-
  6. English todaytetraplegia

From tetra- + -plegia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.