mussitation

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mussitātiō (“soft noise made by dogs, or (Late Latin) people”) + English -ion (suffix denoting a condition or state). Mussitātiō is derived from mussitātus (“kept quiet; having been kept quiet; murmured, muttered; having been muttered”) (see further at mussitate) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mʌsɪˈteɪʃn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmʌsɪˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: mus‧sit‧at‧ion

Noun

mussitation (countable and uncountable, plural mussitations)

1. (chiefly archaic or obsolete) Speech conducted in a hushed manner, akin to a murmur or a whisper.
   • 1989, Nick Cave, And the Ass Saw the Angel:

     The mussitation of the crowd dropped instantly.

2. (medicine) A comatose patient's action of forming words with their lips without producing sound.

Related terms

• mussitant (obsolete, rare)
• mussitate (obsolete)

Further reading

• “mussitation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mussitation f (plural mussitations)

1. (medicine) mussitation

Further reading

• “mussitation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.