A condition where normally non-painful stimuli, such as light touch or gentle pressure, are perceived as painful. This represents a fundamental change in how the nervous system processes sensory information.
From Greek 'allos' meaning 'other' + 'odynia' meaning 'pain'. The term literally means 'other pain' - pain from stimuli that shouldn't normally cause pain.
Allodynia is like your nervous system's wiring getting completely scrambled, turning your touch sensors into pain detectors! Imagine if someone rewired your doorbell to sound like a fire alarm - that's what happens when gentle touches get misinterpreted as dangerous threats by confused nerve pathways.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.