Standard Lemma guide

synaesthesia

noun · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsɪn.ɪsˈθiː.ʒə/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsɪn.ɪsˈθiː.zɪ.ə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌsɪn.əsˈθi.ʒə/
  • rhymes with -iːʒə

1

noun

Meaning 1

A neurological or psychological phenomenon whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of sensation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, medicine, neurology, neuroscience, psychology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The association of one sensory perception with, or description of it in terms of, a different perception that is not experienced at the same time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: art, arts, literature, media, publishing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: synesthesia

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sensation, esthesis, aesthesis, sense experience, sense impression, sense datum

Narrower terms: chromesthesia, chromaesthesia

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with”) + αἴσθησις (aísthēsis, “sensation”), modelled after anaesthesia. It is analysable as syn- + -aesthesia.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: синестезия (sinestezija) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Catalan: sinestèsia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Chinese Mandarin: 聯覺 /联觉 (liánjué) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Czech: synestezie — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Dutch: synesthesie — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Finnish: synestesia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Finnish: aistien sekoittuminen — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • French: synesthésie — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Galician: sinestesia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • German: Synästhesie — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Greek: συναισθησία (synaisthisía) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Hungarian: szinesztézia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Hungarian: összeérzés — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Icelandic: samskynjun — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Italian: sinestesia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Japanese: 共感覚 (kyōkankaku) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Kazakh: синестезия (sinesteziä) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Latin: synaesthēsia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Polish: synestezja — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Portuguese: sinestesia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Russian: синестези́я (sinestezíja) — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Spanish: sinestesia — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Swedish: synestesi — neurological or psychological phenomenon
  • Catalan: sinestèsia — literary or artistic device
  • Chinese Mandarin: 通感 (tōnggǎn) — literary or artistic device
  • Czech: synestezie — literary or artistic device
  • Dutch: synesthesie — literary or artistic device
  • Finnish: synestesia — literary or artistic device
  • French: synesthésie — literary or artistic device
  • Galician: sinestesia — literary or artistic device
  • Hungarian: szinesztézia — literary or artistic device
  • Hungarian: érzetcsere — literary or artistic device
  • Irish: sinéistéise — literary or artistic device
  • Italian: sinestesia — literary or artistic device
  • Polish: synestezja — literary or artistic device
  • Portuguese: sinestesia — literary or artistic device
  • Spanish: sinestesia — literary or artistic device
  • Swedish: synestesi — literary or artistic device