wikipedia
English
Alternative spellings
synesthesia italbrac|US
Etymology
From AGr. polytonic|��ν (sun) "with" + polytonic|αἴ�θη�ι� (aisth�sis) "sensation", modeled after anaesthesia.
Pronunciation
IPA|/�sɪn�s�θi���/
Rhymes: Rhymes:English:-i���|-i���
Noun
en-noun
- A physiological or psychological phenomenon whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of sensation. For example, reading the letter 'r' may trigger the visual sensation of the colour purple in the mind or the eye of the synaesthete (grapheme � colour synaesthesia); or, more rarely, for example, the phoneme /l/ may elicit the taste of mince (lexical � gustatory synaesthesia).
- A literary device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another. (Then these melodies turn to ice as real night music takes over, pianos and vibes erecting clusters in the high brittle octaves and a clarinet wandering across like a crack on a pond. Saxes doing the same figure eight over and over again. �John Updike, Rabbit, Run)
Related terms
synaesthete
hu:synaesthesia
ru:synaesthesia
fi:synaesthesia
vi:synaesthesia
tr:synaesthesia
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