Euthenasia

/ˌjuːθəˈneɪziə/ noun

Definition

An obsolete or variant form of euthanasia referring to the practice of painless death.

Etymology

A variant spelling of euthanasia, created when the term was first being adopted into English medical vocabulary in the 1600s. Different scholars used slightly different transliterations from Greek.

Kelly Says

This word shows how messy language can be—as late as the 1800s, doctors hadn't decided how to spell 'good death' in English, using -sia, -sy, and -sia variants simultaneously in medical texts.

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