Relating to or causing irritation or abnormal sensitivity in the body or nervous system.
From Greek 'erethizein' meaning 'to irritate' or 'to provoke,' combined with the suffix '-ic' meaning 'relating to.' The term emerged in medical terminology in the 18th-19th centuries to describe physiological states of heightened irritability.
Medical students once used 'erethism' to describe a mysterious condition where people became hyperactive, irritable, and trembling—later discovered to be mercury poisoning from hat-makers who used mercury in felt production, inspiring the phrase 'mad as a hatter.'
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