lethargic

UK/ləˈθɑː.d͡ʒɪk/US/ləˈθɑɹd͡ʒɪk/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,853 of 15,258neutral

Lethargic means heavy and slow from a lack of energy. Feeling lethargic, a lethargic afternoon, lethargic and dull.

It is a medical symptom as much as a mood, and a lethargic animal is the sign every vet asks about first. The Greek behind it is built on Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the underworld.

Definitions of lethargic

1adjectivelethargicHeavy and slow from a lack of energy.C1
“The heat made everyone feel lethargic, so we stayed indoors all afternoon.”

lethargic is a state.

Remember it

The Greek is forgetting, from the river in Hades that made the dead forget everything. Lethargic is that heavy, slow, half-asleep state.

hooks ontoforget river

Where it comes from

Greek lethargos means drowsy, from lethe, forgetfulness, the name of a river in Hades.

Ancient Greek
ληθαργικός
English, today
lethargic

Built from

λήθαργος · Ancient Greek — forgetful, lethargic
λήθη · Ancient Greek — a forgetting, forgetfulness
Lethe · English — river in Hades
ἀργός · Ancient Greek — not working

Ancient Greek ληθαργικός, from λήθαργος (“forgetful, lethargic”), from λήθη (“a forgetting, forgetfulness”) (from which Lethe (“river in Hades”)) + ἀργός (“not working”). by surface analysis, lethargy + -ic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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