A spasmodic or sudden severe pain affecting the heart; heart cramp or cardiac spasm.
From Greek 'kardia' (heart) + 'agra' (sudden seizure or spasm, from 'agrein' to seize). The suffix '-agra' appears in 'gout' (from Latin 'gotta') and describes acute attacking pains.
The Greek suffix '-agra' gave us gout, podagra (foot pain), and cardiagra—ancient physicians used 'seizing' as their metaphor for sudden pain because they imagined invisible forces clutching your organs.
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