dementia praecox

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dementia praecox

Where it comes from

A Latin term coined by Arnold Pick in 1891, first used in German and later adopted into English. From the Latin dēmentia (“madness; insanity”) + praecox (“premature; untimely”, whence English precocious), together meaning “untimely madness” or “premature dementia”. Here, dēmentia carries the connotation of senile dementia.

noun dementiae praecoces · dementia præcox · dementia precox

dated, uncountable, usually schizophrenia

Translations

Every language

noun dated psychiatric diagnosis

中文	早發性癡呆 /早发性痴呆 zǎofāxìng chīdāi
Русский	деме́нция пре́кокс deméncija prékoks, ра́ннее слабоу́мие ránneje slaboúmije

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MLA

"dementia praecox." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dementia%20praecox. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dementia praecox. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dementia%20praecox

Chicago

"dementia praecox." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dementia%20praecox.

BibTeX

@misc{dementia_praecox_2026,
  title = {dementia praecox},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dementia%20praecox},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}