A feeling of extreme distress, anxiety, or suffocation; in medical terminology, severe pain or a choking sensation in the chest.
From Latin 'angor' meaning narrowness, tightness, or distress. The word is related to 'angina' (chest pain) and 'anguish,' all sharing the Latin root 'angustus' meaning narrow or tight, which originally referred to the physical sensation of constriction.
The word 'angor' literally comes from the same root as 'narrow,' because people describing extreme anxiety often use physical language—they feel 'tightness in the chest,' and language actually preserves that ancient observation about how emotions are felt in the body!
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