Etymology

tetraplegic

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Today it means: A quadriplegic. Full definition →

Ancient Greek πλήσσειν
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπαραπληγή“the paralysis of half of the body”
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromπλήσσειν“to strike”
  3. English todaytetraplegic

From tetra- and -plegic, from Ancient Greek πλήσσειν (plḗssein, “to strike”); probably patterned after paraplegic from the Ancient Greek παραπληγή (paraplēgḗ, “the paralysis of half of the body”).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekπλήσσειν all →

quadriplegicquadriplegia

Ancient Greekπαραπληγή all →

quadriplegic

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.