To move or crawl like an ant, or to have the sensation of ants crawling on your skin.
From Latin 'formica' (ant) + suffix '-ate' (to cause or become). This medical term emerged in the 18th century to describe the tactile hallucination of insects crawling on the skin, combining the Latin word for ant with the verb-forming suffix.
This word describes a real medical condition called formication that happens to people with certain nerve disorders or during drug withdrawal—your brain literally tricks you into feeling phantom ants crawling all over you, which is why doctors chose the Latin word for 'ant' to name it.
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