# hysteria

> English word · Noun · IPA /hɪˈstɛɹiə/ · frequency rank #17,635

## Definitions
1. Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
2. A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability etc. without an organic cause.
3. Synonym of conversion disorder.
4. Any disorder of women with some psychiatric symptoms without other diagnosis, ascribed to uterine influences on the female body, lack of pregnancy, or lack of sex.

## Etymology
From New Latin hysteria, a back-formation from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”). Compare French hystérie.

## Easily confused with
- **hysterics** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hysteria-vs-hysterics)
- **hysterical** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hysteria-vs-hysterical)

## Common misspellings (12)
`hhysteria`, `hsyteria`, `hysetria`, `hyssteria`, `hysteira`, `hysterai`, `hysterria`, `hystreia`, `hystteria`, `hytseria`, `hyysteria`, `yhsteria`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hysteria