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protopathic


Definition of protopathic

adjective

Physiology
  • relating to or denoting those sensory nerve fibres of the skin which are capable of discriminating only between relatively coarse stimuli, chiefly heat, cold, and pain. Often contrasted with epicritic.

Origin:

mid 19th century: from proto- 'primitive' + Greek pathos 'suffering, feeling' + -ic

protopathic in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of protopathic in the US English dictionary