dystocia

noun

dys·​to·​cia dis-ˈtō-sh(ē-)ə 

: slow or difficult labor or delivery

Examples of dystocia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When there is a shoulder dystocia, there are tried and true things that must be done. —Pilar Arias, Fox News, 8 Feb. 2024

Complications like shoulder dystocia are rare in obstetrics. —Adam Wolfberg, The Atlantic, 26 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

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).

First Known Use

circa 1706, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

dystocia

noun

dys·​to·​cia dis-ˈtō-sh(ē-)ə 

variants or dystokia

-ˈtō-kē-ə 

: slow or difficult labor or delivery compare eutocia