overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

palsy.

Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɔːlzi/
  1. Complete or partial muscle paralysis of a body part, often accompanied by a loss of feeling and uncontrolled body movements such as shaking.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English palesie, from Anglo-Norman paralisie, parleisie et al., from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + λύω (lúō, “loosen”). Doublet of paralysis.

verb/ˈpɔːlzi/
  1. To paralyse, either completely or partially.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English palesie, from Anglo-Norman paralisie, parleisie et al., from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”), from παρα- (para-, “beside”) + λύω (lúō, “loosen”). Doublet of paralysis.

adj/ˈpælzi/UK
  1. Chummy, friendly.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

From pal + -sy.

noun/ˈpælzi/UK
  1. Mate, chum.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From pal + -sy.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

palsy has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

palsy studiopalsy workshello, palsy

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.