lunacy

English

WOTD – 1 June 2008

Etymology

From lunatic +‎ -cy.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.nə.si/, /ˈljuː.nə.si/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈluː.nə.si/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)

Noun

lunacy (countable and uncountable, plural lunacies)

(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.
Something deeply misguided.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

state of being mad

Bulgarian: лудост (bg) f (ludost)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 精神病 (zh) (jīngshénbìng), 神經病／神经病 (zh) (shénjīngbìng)
Danish: galskab c
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
Manx: ard-ommidjys m
Marathi: वेड n (veḍ)
Norwegian: galskap (no) m
Old English: mōnaþsēocnes f
Ottoman Turkish: جنت (cinnet), مجنونلق (mecnunluk)
Plautdietsch: Wonsenn m
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
Turkish: cinnet (tr), çılgınlık (tr), delilik (tr)

cyclical mental disease, apparently linked to the lunar phases

Dutch: maanziekte (nl)

something deeply misguided

Dutch: gekheid (nl), waanzin (nl)
Finnish: hulluus (fi)
French: ^{(please verify)} lunaire (fr)

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)