A pathological condition involving numbness, lethargy, or unconsciousness caused by disease or damage to the brain.
From Greek enkephalos (brain) + narke (numbness, stupor) + -osis (condition). The root 'narc-' gives us words like 'narcotic' and 'narcolepsy,' all relating to sleep or numbness.
The Greek word 'narke' (numbness) literally referred to the shock you feel when a torpedo fish stings you—early physicians connected that numbed feeling to brain diseases, so the fish's name became our medical term.
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