paresis

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
paresis /pəˈriːsɪs, ˈparɪsɪs/

▶noun (pl. pareses /-siːz/) Medicine

• 1 muscular weakness or partial paralysis caused by nerve damage or disease.

• 2 (also general paresis) inflammation of the brain in the later stages of syphilis, causing progressive dementia and paralysis.

– derivatives
paretic adjective.

– origin C17: mod. L., from Gk parienai ‘let go’.