A medical condition where electrical signals in the heart are delayed or prevented from traveling normally, disrupting the heart's rhythm.
Compounds 'heart' (Old English 'heorte') with 'block' (possibly from Middle Dutch 'bloc' or similar Germanic roots). The term emerged in 20th-century medical terminology as doctors developed better understanding of cardiac electricity.
Heart block was completely mysterious until the ECG machine was invented in 1903—now doctors can 'see' the electrical problem, but the condition itself has likely existed throughout human history, silently stopping hearts in our ancestors.
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