hypergraphia

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noun

A behavioural condition characterised by an intense desire to write, associated with changes in the temporal lobes due to epilepsy or chemical changes.

Scrabble 26

Meanings

nounhypergraphia (uncountable)
  1. uncountablehuman sciencesA behavioural condition characterised by an intense desire to write, associated with changes in the temporal lobes due to epilepsy or chemical changes.

    There is some suggestion that hypergraphia is associated with non-dominant hemisphere temporal lobe disturbances (Trimble, 1986c).

    1996, Michael R. Trimble, Biological Psychiatry, page 279
    2 more examples

    Two features of the interictal behavior syndrome are relevant: hypergraphia or the tendency to write compulsively and often repetitively, and verbosity or loquaciousness, the tendency to be overly talkative, rambling, and circumstantial in speech.

    1994, Thomas J. Csordas, “12: Words from the Holy People: a case study in cultural phenomenology”, in Thomas J. Csordas, editor, Embodiment and Experience: The Existential Ground of Culture and Self, page 280

    Two cases of mania and hypergraphia in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy were reported by Sanders and Mathews (1994). In the first case, a 58-year-old right-handed man suffered a ruptured right middle cerebral artery aneurism, which required a craniotomy. During interictal periods, the patient demonstrated hypergraphia, as well as several episodes of alternating manic and mildly depressive phases.

    2009, Joseph M. Tonkonogy, Antonio E. Puente, Localization of Clinical Syndromes in Neuropsychology and Neuroscience, page 559

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Hellenic*hupér
  4. Ancient Greekῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)
  5. Ancient Greekῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)
  6. Englishhyper-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*gerbʰ-
  8. Proto-Hellenic*grə́pʰō
  9. Ancient Greekγρᾰ́φω (grắphō)
  10. Ancient Greekγραφή (graphḗ)
  11. Englishhypergraphia

From hyper- + -graphia.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish hypergrafia
  • hypergrafiabehavioural condition
Cite this entry
APA

hypergraphia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hypergraphia

MLA

“hypergraphia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hypergraphia. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hypergraphia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hypergraphia.

Source: hypergraphia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.