Definition

A medical condition that involves inflammation of multiple peripheral nerves at the same time, often leading to pain, weakness, or numbness in the affected areas.

Example

The patient was diagnosed with polyneuritis after experiencing weakness in both legs and hands.

Conversation

I read an article about polyneuritis the other day.

Oh really? What did it say?

It explained how it affects multiple nerves at once.

That sounds serious; I didn't know it could do that.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Root Explanation

Polyneuritis → It is formed from "poly-" (from Greek "polus", meaning many) and "neuritis" (from Greek "neuron", meaning nerve, and "itis", meaning inflammation). The word describes the inflammation of many nerves.

Memory Tip

Think of 'many' ('poly-') nerves being 'inflamed' ('neuritis') — that's what polyneuritis means.

Visually Confused Words