lunacy

English

WOTD – 1 June 2008

Etymology

From lunatic +‎ -cy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈluː.nə.si /, /ˈljuː.nə.si/
• IPA^(key): /ˈluː.nə.si /

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

lunacy (countable and uncountable, plural lunacies)

1. (of a person or group of people) The state of being mad, insanity
   1. a cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases
   2. insanity implying legal irresponsibility.
2. Something deeply misguided.

Synonyms

• (state of being mad): insanity, madness, craziness, craze

Derived terms

• lunatic

Translations

state of being mad

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精神病 (zh) (jīngshénbìng), 神經病／神经病 (zh) (shénjīngbìng), 神经病 (zh) (shénjīngbìng)

• Dutch: gekheid (nl), krankzinnigheid (nl), waanzin (nl)
• Finnish: hulluus (fi)
• French: folie (fr) f
• German: Verrücktheit (de) f, Wahnsinn (de) m
• Irish: gealtachas m
• Italian: pazzia (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: ard-ommidjys m
• Norwegian: galskap m
• Old English: mōnaþsēocnes f
• Polish: obłęd (pl) m, niepoczytalność (pl) f
• Russian: безу́мие (ru) n (bezúmije), невменя́емость (ru) f (nevmenjájemostʹ), помеша́тельство (ru) n (pomešátelʹstvo), сумасше́ствие (ru) n (sumasšéstvije), умопомеша́тельство (ru) n (umopomešátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: locura (es) f

cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases

• Dutch: maanziekte (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

something deeply misguided

• Dutch: gekheid (nl), waanzin (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: hulluus (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} Wahnsinn (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}