asemia
|a-se-mi-a|
/əˈsiːmiə/
absence of meaning/sign
Etymology
'asemia' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'asēmía', where 'a-' meant 'not' and 'sēma' meant 'sign'.
'asēmía' passed into Late/medical Latin as 'asemia' and then entered English as 'asemia' with specialized medical and literary uses.
Initially, it meant 'absence of signs' (literally 'without signs'), but over time it came to denote the clinical loss of the ability to assign meaning to signs and, separately, the artistic phenomenon of non-semantic writing.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a neuropsychological condition in which a person has lost the ability to understand or assign meaning to signs, symbols, or language (a type of semantic impairment).
After the stroke, the patient showed asemia and could not interpret written signs or simple symbols.
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Noun 2
the practice or phenomenon of 'asemic writing'—marks or script-like forms that resemble writing but carry no specific semantic content.
Her sketchbook is full of asemia—flowing, written-like marks that convey mood but no literal meaning.
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Last updated: 2025/10/27 16:09