kinesthesia

English
WOTD – 24 March 2006

Alternative forms

Etymology

Coined based on Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, “I put in motion”) + αἴσθησις (-αισθησία) (aísthēsis (-aisthēsía), “sensation”) (after anesthesia, etc). Compare kinesthesis and Modern Greek κιναισθησία (kinaisthisía).

Notes

If this word were borrowed on fully traditional principles it would be cinesthesia (or cinaesthesia); compare cinema from the same root. But more often this Greek root is spelled and pronounced with a k, and in the case of kinesthesia this avoids inconvenient homophony with synaesthesia, the sensation of one type of perception as another (e.g. the perception of smells as colors). Nevertheless the words are still occasionally confused; e.g. .

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌkɪnɪsˈθiʒə/, /ˌkaɪnɪsˈθiʒə/ (see usage notes)

Noun

kinesthesia (countable and uncountable, plural kinesthesias)

  1. Sensation or perception of motion.
    • For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:kinesthesia.
    1. (physiology) The perception of the movement of one's own body, its limbs and muscles etc.
    2. (performing arts) A spectator's perception of the motion of a performer, or, the effect of the motion of a scene on the spectator.
  2. Proprioception or static position sense; the perception of the position and posture of the body; also, more broadly, including the motion of the body as well. See usage notes below.

Usage notes
  • The traditional rules of pronunciation of Greco-Latin vocabulary prefer the I in the first syllable to be long. The more common pronunciation with short I is by analogy with other words from this root such as kinetic and kinesiology where short I is expected.[1]
  • The etymological meaning of the word as used in physiology refers specifically to the motion of the body, and a distinction between kinesthesia and the sense of the position of the body is sometimes made in technical texts. In popular use the distinction is made less often.[2]

Synonyms

Derived terms
  • inesthesis

Translations

References
  1. John Sargeaunt, The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin, 1920.
  2. Terence R. Anthoney, Neuroanatomy and the Neurologic Exam: A Thesaurus of Synonyms, Similar-Sounding Non-Synonyms, and Terms of Variable Meaning, 1993. →ISBN
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