Hysteria

How to spell hysteria

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce hysteria

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hysteria mean?

1. nounA state of wild, uncontrollable emotion, panic, or excitement, whether in a person or a group.

Hysteria in a sentence

• The false rumour of a shortage caused mass hysteria at the petrol stations.

• A wave of hysteria swept the crowd when the lights suddenly went out.

Where does hysteria come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek hystera, which simply meant 'womb'. Ancient physicians believed that emotional or nervous disturbances in women were caused by a disorder of the womb, so the Latinised medical term hysteria was coined in the eighteenth century to label such uncontrolled emotional states. From the early 1800s it spread from medicine into general English to describe any wild, ungovernable outburst of feeling, whether in an individual or a crowd. The original womb theory has long been discredited, but the spelling preserves the Greek root almost untouched. A useful memory aid is that the word keeps the 'y' from hystera right where you might be tempted to write an 'i', and the closing '-ia' is the same condition ending found in pneumonia and amnesia.

How the word is built

• hyster- (from Greek hystera: womb)
• -ia (noun suffix denoting a condition)