Word.ws English Dictionary

commotio cordis

commotio cordis noun: an often lethal disruption of heart rhythm as a result of a blow to the area directly over the heart at a critical time during the cycle of a heartbeat.

Noun

commotio cordis (uncountable)

  1. An often lethal disruption of heart rhythm as a result of a blow to the area directly over the heart at a critical time during the cycle of a heartbeat.
    • “There are over 700 meridians in the human body. Mr. Kung Fu struck specific pressure points in me and induced commotio cordis. Five steps forward will cause massive compression buildup, causing my heart to explode under its own pressure.”2026 June 7, Rob Schrab, “Rick Fu Hustle” (3:15 from the start), in Rick and Morty, season 9, episode 3, spoken by Rick Sanchez (Ian Cardoni)

Origin of commotio cordis

From Latin commōtiō cordis (literally “agitation/disruption of the heart”), from commōtiō (“agitation”) + cordis (“of the heart”, genitive of cor (“heart”)).

Questions about commotio cordis

What does commotio cordis mean?
Commotio cordis means an often lethal disruption of heart rhythm as a result of a blow to the area directly over the heart at a critical time during the cycle of a heartbeat.
What part of speech is commotio cordis?
Commotio cordis is a noun.

Words near commotio cordis in the dictionary

  1. commotal
  2. commote
  3. commoted
  4. commotes
  5. commoting
  6. commotio cordis
  7. commotion
  8. commotion lotion
  9. commotional
  10. commotions
  11. commots

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: commotio cordis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “commotio cordis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/commotio_cordis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.