alexithymia
/əˌlɛk.sɪˈθaɪ.mi.ə/noun
alexithymia is spelled A-L-E-X-I-T-H-Y-M-I-A: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 145,125th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alexithymia means “A deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in alexithymia?
| Letters | 11: A-L-E-X-I-T-H-Y-M-I-A |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 23 million words; the 145,125th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is alexithymia?
Alexithymia appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 145,125th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce alexithymia?
- /əˌlɛk.sɪˈθaɪ.mi.ə/
- /eɪˌlɛk.səˈθaɪ.mi.ə/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-US-alexithymia.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does alexithymia mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing emotions.
Finally, schizophrenic disorders involve impairments of perceptions, including hallucinations and delusions, symptoms that often impair patients’ social and occupational functioning and can create alexithymia (Maggini and Raballo 2004; van
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Alexithymia in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense deficiency in understanding emotions:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | alexithymie |
| German | Alexithymie, Gefühlsblindheit, Gefühlslegasthenie |
| Portuguese | alexitimia |
| Spanish | alexitimia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does alexithymia come from?
From a- + lexi + -thymia. Created by psychiatrists John Case Nemiah and Peter Sifneos from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + λέξις (léxis, “speaking”) + θυμός (thumós, “heart”), meaning “without words for emotions”.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).