petit mal

English

Borrowed from French petit mal (literally “little illness”).

petit mal (uncountable)

(neurology) A form of epilepsy where the seizures are characterized as minor, the person becomes vacant or unaware, but not involving spasms and unconsciousness. These seizures are usually brief, lasting up to 30 seconds, and may include twitching. A formal medical term would be absence seizures.
Coordinate term: grand mal
- 2010, Carol Turkington, Joseph Harris, The Encyclopedia of the Brain and Brain Disorders, 3rd edition, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 289:
  Petit mal seizures are also known as absence seizures, which cause a loss of consciousness that is usually brief and barely noticeable. The neurons in a normal brain communicate by firing tiny electric signals.

form of epilepsy

petit mal m (uncountable)

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