Word.ws English Dictionary

erethism

/ˈɛɹɪθɪzəm/

erethism noun: abnormal excitement of a bodily organ or tissue.

Noun

erethism (countable and uncountable, plural erethisms)

  1. Abnormal excitement of a bodily organ or tissue.
  2. Any unusual or morbid overexcitement.
    • Since the eighteenth century, sex has not ceased to provoke a kind of generalized discursive erethism.1978, Robert Hurley, translated by Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I, Penguin, page 32
  3. A neurological disorder arising from mercury poisoning, leading to irritability, depression, etc.
    Synonyms:
    erethism mercurialis, mad hatter disease, mad hatter syndrome

erethism meaning in Tamil

erethism in Tamil

அதிகக் கூர்மையுணர்வு, தூண்டிய பாலுணர்வு மிகைப்பு, தூண்டு உணர்வு மிகைப்பு

Synonyms of erethism

Forms of erethism

pluralerethisms

Origin of erethism

From French éréthisme, from Ancient Greek ἐρεθισμός (erethismós), from ἐρεθίζειν (erethízein, “to irritate”).

Words formed from erethism

Questions about erethism

What does erethism mean?
Erethism means abnormal excitement of a bodily organ or tissue.
What is erethism in Tamil?
Erethism in Tamil is அதிகக் கூர்மையுணர்வு, தூண்டிய பாலுணர்வு மிகைப்பு, தூண்டு உணர்வு மிகைப்பு. See Erethism meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is erethism?
Erethism is a noun.
How do you pronounce erethism?
Erethism is pronounced /ˈɛɹɪθɪzəm/.
What is the plural of erethism?
The plural of erethism is erethisms.

Words near erethism in the dictionary

  1. eres
  2. Ereshkigal
  3. eresid
  4. eresids
  5. erethic
  6. erethism
  7. erethismic
  8. erethisms
  9. erethistic
  10. erethistid
  11. erethistids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: erethism (page history and authors); erethism (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-erethism.wav.

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