mutism

[myoo-tiz-uhm] Origin

mut·ism

[myoo-tiz-uhm]
noun Psychiatry.
an inability to speak, due to a physical defect, conscious refusal, or psychogenic inhibition.

Origin:
1815–25; < Neo-Latin mūtismus. See mute, -ism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Mutism is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
mutism (ˈmjuːtɪzəm)
 
n
1.  the state of being mute
2.  psychiatry
 a.  a refusal to speak although the mechanism of speech is not damaged
 b.  the lack of development of speech, due usually to early deafness

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

mutism
"state of being mute," 1824, from Fr. mutisme (1741), from L. mutus (see mute).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

mutism mut·ism (my&oomacr;'tĭz'əm)
n.
Absence of the faculty of speech.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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