Moving or acting with wild, uncontrolled energy and intensity; frantically busy or excited.
From Middle French frenetique, derived from Medieval Latin freneticus, which comes from Greek phrenitis meaning 'inflammation of the brain' or 'madness.' The word originally referred to someone delirious from fever, but evolved to describe any frenzied activity.
The word 'frenetic' literally traces back to brain fever in ancient medicine—when doctors thought madness was caused by inflammation! This is why it captures that sense of mental chaos and inability to slow down that we recognize today.
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