a person who is wild, violent, or extremely enthusiastic about something in an uncontrolled way.
From Greek 'manikos,' meaning 'mad' or 'frenzied,' related to 'mania' (extreme excitement or obsession). Greek physicians believed madness was a medical condition, and this clinical term became more informal over time.
The Greek root 'mania' is alive in modern psychology—we say people have 'pyromania' (fire obsession), 'kleptomania' (stealing obsession), and 'megalomania' (power obsession)—showing how Greek roots keep generating new words for different types of intense behavior.
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