Standard Lemma guide

encephalopathy

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɛnˌsɛfəˈlɒpəθi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EH0 N S EH2 F AH0 L AO1 P AH0 TH IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various conditions affecting the brain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, neurology, neuroscience, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: encephalosis

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any disorder or disease of the brain

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brain disorder, brain disease

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nervous disorder, neurological disorder, neurological disease

Narrower terms: epilepsy, apraxia, paralysis agitans, Parkinsonism, Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's syndrome, Parkinson's, shaking palsy, cerebral palsy, spastic paralysis, agraphia, anorthography, logagraphia, acataphasia, aphasia, agnosia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD, Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, Reye's syndrome, Wernicke's encephalopathy

History

Etymology

From encephalo- + -pathy.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: էնցեֆալոպաթիա (ēncʻefalopatʻia) — condition affecting the brain
  • Catalan: encefalopatia — condition affecting the brain
  • Chinese Mandarin: 腦病 /脑病 (naobing) — condition affecting the brain
  • Dutch: encefalopathie — condition affecting the brain
  • Finnish: aivosairaus — condition affecting the brain
  • French: encéphalopathie — condition affecting the brain
  • Georgian: ენცეფალოპათია (encepaloṗatia) — condition affecting the brain
  • German: Enzephalopathie — condition affecting the brain
  • Greek: εγκεφαλοπάθεια (egkefalopátheia) — condition affecting the brain
  • Irish: einceifealapaite — condition affecting the brain
  • Italian: encefalopatia — condition affecting the brain
  • Japanese: 脳症 (nōshō) — condition affecting the brain
  • Kazakh: ми дерті (mi dertı) — condition affecting the brain
  • Korean: 뇌질환 (noejilhwan) — condition affecting the brain
  • Latin: encephalopathia — condition affecting the brain
  • Polish: encefalopatia — condition affecting the brain
  • Portuguese: encefalopatia — condition affecting the brain
  • Romanian: encefalopatie — condition affecting the brain
  • Russian: энцефалопа́тия (encefalopátija) — condition affecting the brain
  • Spanish: encefalopatía — condition affecting the brain
  • Swedish: encefalopati — condition affecting the brain
  • Turkish: ensefalopati — condition affecting the brain
  • Ukrainian: енцефалопатія (encefalopatija) — condition affecting the brain
Real reading context

encephalopathy in complete knowledge articles