dystocia
noun
Example Sentences
Adam Wolfberg, The Atlantic, 26 May 2017 Word History
borrowed from New Latin, borrowed from Greek dystokía, from dys- dys- + tókos "childbirth, act of giving birth (of animals), offspring" + -ia -ia entry 1; tókos nominal ablaut derivative of tíktō, tíktein, aorist étekon, tekeîn "to give birth to, beget, generate," probably going back to Indo-European *teḱ- "generate, give birth to," base of the aorist stem *tetḱ- "generate, produce" — more at tectonic
Note: According to Helmut Rix, et al., Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2. Ausgabe (Wiesbaden, 2001), *te-tḱ- represents a pre-Indo-European reduplicated aorist from which *teḱ- was in effect back-derived. Other than Greek, there appears to be no evidence for *teḱ- as a simple verb, and the supposed connection of the nominal derivative téknon "child, young of an animal" with Germanic *þegna- "servant, retainer of a lord" has been seriously questioned (see thane).
circa 1706, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
dystocia
noun