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stroke

UK/stɹəʊk/US/stɹoʊk/
nounB22 meaningsVery common — you will meet it every day · #2,054 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: strokes, stroked, stroking

A stroke is a sudden blockage of blood to part of the brain. Suffer a stroke, stroke recovery, signs of a stroke.

Time is the whole thing — brain tissue dies by the minute, and the public campaigns teach face, arms, speech, time for exactly that reason. Most are blockages and some are bleeds, and the treatments are opposite, which is why a scan comes first. The same word means a blow, a swimming style and a gentle touch.

INFARCT.jpg: Lucien Monfils derivative work: Suraj · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of stroke

  1. 1nounstrokeA sudden blockage of blood to part of the brain.B2

    “After his stroke, he couldn't move his right arm or speak clearly.”

  2. 2verbmoveTo move a hand gently over something.B1

    “She stroked the cat's soft fur, and it began to purr.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

stroke is a medical event, or a movement.

Where it comes from

Old English strac means a blow, from a Germanic root meaning to stroke or strike. The medical sense comes from the idea of being struck down.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *streyg- — to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *straikaz — stroke

  3. Proto-West Germanic

    *straik

  4. Old English

    strāc

  5. Middle English

    strok

  6. English, today

    stroke

Built from

  • stroke · Middle English — blow from a weapon, cut

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic straik, from Proto-Germanic straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”). Sense 3.5.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy. The verb is derived from the noun.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health

Practise this word

stroke in the wild

  • The same person can have major strokes, minor strokes, and silent strokes, in any order.

    Transient ischemic attack

  • All forms of stroke are associated with increased risk of death or disability.

    Transient ischemic attack

  • Two-stroke engines often have a higher power-to-weight ratio than a four-stroke engine, since their power stroke occurs twice as often.

    Two-stroke engine

  • The major alternative design is the two-stroke cycle..

    Four-stroke engine

  • Other risk factors that contribute to stroke include smoking and diabetes.

    Cerebrovascular disease

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

  • stroke rate
  • butterfly stroke