farc-, fars-

(Latin: to plug up or to cram, to stuff; by extension, practical joke, sham; fiasco)

acute myocardial infarction (s) (noun), acute myocardial infarctions (pl)
An occurrence during a time when circulation to a region of the heart is obstructed and necrosis (death of tissue cells) is occurring: Known as a heart attack, acute myocardial infarction is the sudden death of part of the heart muscle which is characterized, in most such conditions, by severe and unremitting chest pain.

Men are more likely to suffer acute myocardial infarctions attacks than women, smokers more than nonsmokers, and the children of those who have died of a heart attack are more likely to die from the same cause.

—Compiled from excerpts located in
The American Medical Association Home Medical Encyclopedia
Volume Two, I-Z; Medical Editor, Charles B. Claman, MD;
Random House, Inc.; New York; 1989, pages 710 & 712.
anemic infarct (s) (noun), anemic infarcts (pl)
An area of tissue in a bodily organ, or a part, in which blood pigment is lacking or decoloration (a lack of or a loss of color) has occurred: An anemic infarct is also called "pale infarct" or "white infarct" all of which are caused by "ischemia" or a lack of blood supply.
bland infarct (s) (noun), bland infarcts (pl)
An area of of the body that has an insufficient supply of blood to a specific organ or tissue in which infection is absent or, in other words, it is free of infection: The cardiologist and his patient, James, were greatly relieved when it was determined by the cardiac examination that he had a bland infarct instead of a more serious heart condition.
calcareous infarct (s) (noun), calcareous infarcts (pl)
The death of living cells in connective tissue in which salts (containing lime or is chalky) have been overly deposited: When there is a calcareous infarct, it can result in the abnormal calcification of a body structure and the loss of normal activity of cells within a tissue which can become disrupted because of inadequate nutrition and will cause weakness and paralysis.
cardiac infarction (s) (noun), cardiac infarctions (pl)
A degenerative or necrotic (deadly) abnormality resulting from an acute deprivation of blood supplies in the heart muscle, usually resulting from a formation of a thrombus (blood clot) in the coronary artery system (the arteries that encircle and supply the heart with blood): Because the majority of deaths occur in the first hours following cardiac infarction, it is essential that treatment should not be delayed.
cerebral infarction (s) (noun), cerebral infarctions (pl)
An obstruction (plugging up) of the blood supply in the brain: A cerebral infarction may completely block the artery, cutting off the normal supply of blood and oxygen to the brain, resulting in a stroke.
cicatrized infarct (s) (noun), cicatrized infarcts (pl)
An area of tissue in an organ, or part of an organ, that heals by forming new tissue: A cicatrized infarct replaces the necrotic mass that has been damaged with encapsulated fibrous-connective tissue that leaves a scar after healing.
extension of infarction
An increase in the size of a myocardial infarction, occurring after the initial infarction and usually accompanied by a return of acute symptoms; such as, angina unrelieved by appropriate medicines.
farce (s) (noun), farces (pl)
1. A ridiculous situation in which everything goes wrong or becomes a sham and is not genuine and so it is used for deception: A farce is sometimes used in light dramatic works in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect; including, the branch of literature and the broad or spirited humor characteristic of such works.
2. To fill, a speech, for example, with jokes or witticisms: The debate between the two political contestants turned out to be a ridiculous farce.
3. To stuff, as for roasting: For example, a farce may consist of a mixture of ground raw chicken and mushrooms with pistachios and truffles and onions and parsley and lots of butter and bound with eggs.

The strange background of the word farce

In the Middle Ages, the trade guilds of France (labor unions of that time) presented the first crude one-act plays. By the time of Joan of Arc, these interludes of farces were "stuffed" or "crammed" in between the acts of the main performance. The French word farce is derived from farcier, going back to the Latin farcire which meant "to stuff".

—Based on information from
Word Origins and Their romantic Stories by Wilfred Funk, Litt. D.;
Grosset & Dunlap; New York; 1950; pages 294-295.

When the word farce was first used in English, it referred to "cookery", not comedy. In the fourteenth century the French word farce entered English as farse with its meaning, "forcemeat, stuffing" unchanged from the French interpretation.

The French had derived the noun from the assumed Vulgar Latin word farsa, which had been formed from the past participle of the classical Latin verb facire, meaning "to stuff". This use of farce, spelled this way in English since the eighteenth century, is still evident in some cookbooks today.

The use of farce as comedic feature derives from another sense of the word in early French. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries; especially, in France and Spain, Latin liturgical texts; such as, the chanted parts of the Mass, were frequently interpolated with explanatory or hortatory phrases (giving strong encouragement), often in the vernacular language where it was being presented.

Seeing a similarity between the culinary stuffing and the interlarding of liturgical texts, the French also called such an interpolation a farce (in this sense the word is usually spelled farse in English).

Such "farsing" became abusive, however, and it was officially abolished 1570 when Pope Pius V issued his Roman Missal to displace the multiplicity of missals then in use.

During the fifteenth-century in France, this sense of farce was further extended to "impromptu buffoonery interpolated by actors into the texts of religious plays". Such farces included elements of clowning, acrobatics, reversal of social roles, and even indecency.

The farce developed into a dramatic category and spread quickly, in time developing into the commedia dell'arte in Italy.

In England, the farce became popular in the sixteenth century as a short dramatic work whose primary purpose was to provoke laughter. It continued to flourish as a broadly satirical comedy with absurdly laughable plots.

Although it was successful in nineteenth-century music halls and vaudeville theaters, the farce attracted even larger audiences when it became a favorite motion-picture genre with slapstick routines, mad chases, and pie-throwing scenes.

—Compiled from information located in
Webster's Word Histories; Merriam-Webster Inc., Publishers;
Springfield, Massachusetts; 1989; pages 169-170.
farce (verb), farces; farced; farcing
1. To fill out with witticisms, jibes, etc., as in a play.
2. To fill with dressing, to stuff, as in a chicken, a duck, etc.
farcemeat, forcemeat (farce stuffing +meat)
A mixture of finely chopped and seasoned foods, usually containing egg white, meat or fish, etc.; used as a stuffing or served alone.
farcement
Stuffing; forcemeat.
farci, farcie (adjective)
1. Stuffed; especially, with "forcemeat"; such as, "oysters farci".
2. Stuffed with finely ground meat; for example, "mushrooms farci".
farcical (adjective), more farcical, most farcical
1. Broadly, or extravagantly, humorous, ludicrous
2. Ridiculously clumsy; absurdly futile: Michael's failure to get up in time for school is more farcical than tragic.
3. Etymology: from Middle French farce, "stuffing", as used with fowls, "comic interlude in a mystery play"; from Latin farcire, "to stuff, to cram".
farcicality

Related "jest; joke; wit; humor; funny" word units: faceti-; humor-; jocu-; lud-; satir-.