aesth-, esth-, aesthe-, esthe-, aesthesio-, esthesio-, aesthesia-, -esthesia, -aesthetic, -esthetic, -aesthetical, -esthetical, -aesthetically, -esthetically

(Greek: feeling, sensation, perception)

paraanesthesia, para-anesthesia (s) (noun); paraanesthesias; para-anesthesias (pl)
Having neither feeling nor any sensation in the lower part of the body: The anticipated outcome of an epidural injection is paraanesthesia.
paracenesthesia (s) (noun), paracenesthesias (pl)
Any abnormality of the general sense of well-being: After several months of gray, overcast skies, Dorothy experienced an overwhelming paracenesthesia.
paresthesia, paraesthesia (s) (noun); paresthesias; paraesthesias (pl)
1. Sensations of stinging, tingling, burning, crawling, etc. of the skin for no apparent cause; a disordered, or perverted, sensation: Long after the rash disappeared, Esther continued to experience phantom paresthesia on her left leg.
2. An unpleasant sensation caused by tactile (touching) stimuli: The paresthesia on Glenda's right hand was caused when she accidentally touched a hot pan on the stove.

Paresthesias include burning, tingling sensations, or numbness, in fact they are the "pins and needles" of feelings.

paresthetic, paraesthetic (adjective); more paresthetic, most paresthetic; more paraesthetic, most paraesthetic
Descriptive of an itchiness or tingling sensations on the skin caused by an unknown reason: Dr. Jenkins, the dermatologist, was puzzled by Linda's paresthetic condition.
phleboanesthesia (s) (noun), phleboanesthesias (pl)
Intravenous loss of sensations: Dr. Snow, the anesthesiologist, was very skilled in the administration of phleboanesthesias.
phonestheme, phonaestheme (s) (noun), phonesthemes; phonaesthemes (pl)
The common feature of sounds occurring in a group of symbolic words or words of similar meanings: Laura, the poet laureate for the city, was well-known for her use of phonesthemes in her writing.

A phonestheme is a sound, sound cluster, or sound type that is directly associated with meanings.

An example of the phonaestheme "gl-" occurs in a large number of words relating to light or vision, such as glint, glow, glitter, glisten, gleam, glare, glimmer, glaze, glower, moonglade (moonlight on water), etc.

Additional examples of phonesthemes in English, include "sn-", which is related to the mouth or nose, such as in snarl, snout, snicker, snack, etc., and "sl-", which may be seen in words denoting frictionless motion. such as slide, slick, sled, etc.

"Phonesthetic" sound symbolism involves the use of sound symbolic elements called phonesthemes.

phonesthesia, phonaesthesia (s) (noun); phonesthesias; phonaesthesias (pl)
In linguistics, sound symbolisms that include vocal sounds or phonemes that carry meanings in and of themselves: Phonesthesia is an aspect of sonances which play an influential role in the English language.
phonesthetic (adjective), more phonesthetic, most phonesthetic
A reference to the perceptions of linguistic sounds: From a phonesthetic perspective, the most important linguistic element is not vocabulary, but sound. The pedigreed sounds of Indo-European echo in virtually every utterance made by speakers.

Sound has proven to be a profitable phonesthetic tool in the never-ending struggle to commercially manipulate people from the names of cars, to the "snap, crackle, and pop" of cereals. Sound symbolism is present everywhere in product names and slogans. If English were not really a sound symbolic language, advertisers would not be able to communicate much of their current products on the radio and television.

photesthesia (s) (noun), photesthesias (pl)
Sensitivity to light: Dr. Noel, the ophthalmologist, tested for photesthesia before prescribing new glasses for Hayden's aunt.
photesthesis (s) (noun) (no pl)
Sensitivity to light: Because of her acute photesthesis, Laural always wore transition lenses when she went outside in the sunlight.
photoesthesia (s) (noun), photoesthesias (pl)
A reference to, or having, a sensation or perception of light: Dr. Schmidt, the eye surgeon, assured Jackie that she would begin to experience photoesthesia again about three weeks after her eye surgery.
photoesthetic (adjective), more photoesthetic, most photoesthetic
Possessing or pertaining to the sensation elicited by photons (light): The flashing of strobe lights during the theater production caused a photoesthetic feeling of nausea among some of the patrons.
photoparesthesia (s) (noun), photoparesthesias (pl)
An abnormal sensation caused by exposure to light: Nancy developed photoparesthesia on her left arm which was exposed to a lot of sunlight because she often had to drive with the car window down due to the fact that her air conditioner was not functioning.
piesesthesia, piezesthesia (s) (noun); piesesthesias; piezesthesias (pl)
1. Pressure sensibility, or the sensation of pressure: Marjory's feet were very sensitive to being pressed, a condition which the doctor diagnosed as piesesthesia.
2. Awareness of, or feeling pressure: Lorna thought she was dreaming of experiencing piesesthesia, however, in fact it was real because when she woke up, she realized that her cat was sleeping on her chest.
piesesthesic (adjective), more piesesthesic, most piesesthesic
1. A reference to the sense, or perception, of pressure: Mary had a piesesthesic feeling while she was trying on some new shoes, so she asked the clerk to let her try a larger size.
2. Relating to the sense by which pressure stimuli are felt: Dr. Brown agreed with Janet's observation that the piesesthesic tightness which she was experiencing in her feet was caused by her wearing pretty shoes that were too small for her.

Arrow pointing to words and info sections The index of anesthesia history, Parts 1, 2, and 3.


Quiz If you would like to take self-scoring quizzes over some of the words in this thematic unit, then click on this Aesthesia, Esthesia Quizzes link, or the button, so you can see how much you know about some of these aesth-, esth- words.

Related-word units meaning feeling: senso-; pass-, pati-; patho-.