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A.Word.A.Day--nyctalopia

nyctalopia (nik-tuh-LO-pee-uh) noun

Night blindness: a condition in which vision is faint or completely lost at night or in dim light.

[From Late Latin nyctalopia, from Greek nuktalops (night-blind), from nykt- (night) + alaos (blind) + ops, op- (eye).]

An opposite of today's word is hemeralopia (day blindness), a condition where eyes can see well during night or in dim light but poorly or not at all during the day or in bright light. And finally, a word from medicine that sounds scary, but isn't: haplopia (normal vision).

"Then there's Carsonogenous Monocular Nyctalopia, a case of left-sided night blindness caused by watching Johnny Carson and other TV lateniks from bed, with the right side of the face buried in the pillow."
Victor Cohn, Odd Ailments: Symptoms of Modern Life, St. Petersburg Times (Florida), Mar 9, 1988.

This week's theme: words from medicine.

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