pseudo-chromesthesia

Meanings

1. A type of synesthesia when sounds trigger involuntary, subjective sensations of color; during which a person might see colors when they hear music, specific pitches, words, or everyday noises (e.g. a "blue" sound or a "red" voice); a mental association rather than a true, external visual perception.

Etymology

From pseudo- + (from the Ancient Greek word pseudēs, meaning "false" or "lying") + chrom (from the Ancient Greek word chrōma, meaning "color" + -esthesia (from the Ancient Greek word aisthēsis, meaning "sensation" or "perception"). In 1848, French physician Dr. Charles-Auguste-Édouard Cornaz became the first person to give a name to the condition of synesthesia, at the time calling it hyperchromatopsia. This term fell out of favor after French physician Dr. Ernest Chabalier coined the term pseudochromesthésie (or pseudochromesthesia, "because of the perception of false colors"). The influence of Chabalier's term continued until the 1900s, when synesthésie eventually evolved into synesthesia.