hemicrania

English

Alternative forms

• hemicrany (dated)

Etymology

Late Latin hemicrania (“pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrānía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “skull”) (from whence also cranium).

Cognate to megrim and migraine, which also derive from the Latin.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪniə

Noun

hemicrania (countable and uncountable, plural hemicranias)

1. (pathology) A headache affecting one side of the head.
   • 1993, The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov, translation Burgin and O’Connor, Chapter 2, p. 17:

     “Gods, gods, why do you punish me? Yes, no doubt it is upon me again, again this terrible, invincible affliction … this hemicrania which grips half the head with pain … without remedy, without escape … I must try not to move my head. …”

Usage notes

Medical term, used in some literary contexts; not used in everyday speech. Instead more general headache or more specific migraine used.

Synonyms

• megrim
• migraine

Derived terms

• hemicranial

Related terms

• megrim
• migraine

Translations

See also

• amphicrania

Latin

Alternative forms

• hēmicrānium

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrānía).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /heː.miˈkraː.ni.a/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.miˈkra.ni.a/,

Noun

hēmicrānia f (genitive hēmicrāniae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) migraine, headache

Declension

First-declension noun.

Descendants

References

• hemicrania in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: he‧mi‧cra‧ni‧a

Noun

hemicrania f (plural hemicranias)

1. (pathology) hemicrania (a headache affecting one side of the head)

   Synonym: enxaqueca