A morbid or irresistible craving or desire, from older medical terminology describing an obsessive behavioral disorder.
From Greek 'kakos' (bad) + 'entheos' (inspired/possessed), literally meaning bad inspiration or obsession. Used in 18th-19th century medicine to describe compulsive behaviors.
Medieval and Renaissance doctors would diagnose cacoenthes for everything from obsessive gambling to uncontrollable urges to steal—it's an early attempt to describe what we'd now call behavioral compulsions and impulse control disorders!
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