3 syllables: Ceph, al, gia. Stress on al.
suh-FAL-juh
/səfˈæl.dʒə/
Cephalgia is pronounced suh-FAL-juh (/səfˈæl.dʒə/). It has three syllables (Ceph-al-gia), with the stress on "al". Cephalgia is a medical term for headache, derived from Greek roots. It denotes pain in the head and is used in clinical contexts or formal medical literature. The word is pronounced with careful, clinical enunciation and is typically encountered in specialist discussions of head pain, differential diagnoses, or case reports.
nounCephalgia is a medical term for headache, derived from Greek roots. It denotes pain in the head and is used in clinical contexts or formal medical literature. The word is pronounced with careful, clinical enunciation and is typically encountered in specialist discussions of head pain, differential diagnoses, or case reports.
"The patient reported severe cephalgia following the migraine aura."
"During the symposium, the neurologist reviewed cephalgia as a symptom rather than a diagnosis."
"The chart listed cephalgia as the principal complaint she presented with at admission."
Pronounce it as seh-FAL-juh-zhuh, with primary stress on the second syllable. IPA for US: /sɛfˈældʒiə/; UK/AU mirror /sɛfˈældʒiə/. Start with a clear 's' then a short 'e' like in 'set', move to 'fal' with an open back vowel, end with a soft 'gia' sounding like 'jee-uh'. A useful cue is to think 'cepha' as ‘SEF-AL’ and end with a light ‘-gia’ as in ‘gia’ in “granulagia.” Audio guidance: listen to medical pronunciations on Pronounce or Forvo to hear subtle /dʒ/ assimilation before /iə/.
Common errors: 1) Misplacing stress on the first syllable (ce-PHAL- gia) — correct to stressed second syllable. 2) Slurring the /dʒ/ into a plain /j/ or /g/— aim for a voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/. 3) Vowel quality drift in the final syllable: avoid a hard ‘g’ or silent final syllable; pronounce /iə/ clearly as in ‘ia’.”
In US/UK/AU, the main variant is vowel quality and rhoticity. All share /sɛfˈældʒiə/ with rhoticity affecting only surrounding words, not the target. US often has a slightly tenser /æ/ in ‘fal’ and a crisp /dʒ/; UK tends to a slightly rounded /ɒ/ in similar contexts? (Note: the standard is still /æ/; AU mirrors US/UK but with subtle Australian vowel coloring. Overall, cephalgia remains non-rhotic in most careful speech, though connected speech may drop or reduce vowels. Listen to region-specific medical diction for precise nuance.
The difficulty comes from the three-syllable, multi-phoneme structure with a mid-word liquid and a voiced affricate cluster. The sequence /f/ + /l/ + /dʒ/ requires precise tongue shaping: a light /f/ with a subsequent /l/ then a brief /dʒ/ before a neutral /iə/. Avoid overemphasizing the /l/ and ensure the /æ/ isn’t shortened. Practice the medial /ældʒ/ cluster slowly, then speed up. IPA reminders: /sɛfˈældʒiə/.”},{
A unique point is the -algia ending where the -algia is not pronounced as a flat a‑gl‑ya but as a soft –aljiə with the /dʒ/ before the /iə/. This is distinct from similar terms ending in -algia where the Al- segment fuses with a different suffix. Focus on the transition from /ldʒ/ to /iə/ without adding extra vowel sound between them. IPA: /ˌsɛfˈældʒiə/ emphasising the grainy /ldʒ/ onset.
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Cephalgia comes from the Greek prefix kephal- meaning ‘head’ (from kephalê, ‘head’) and the suffix -algia meaning ‘pain’ (from algon, ‘pain’). The term entered medical vocabulary via Latinized forms in the 18th–19th centuries as Western medicine systematized terminology for symptoms. Kephal- traces to Proto-Indo-European *keph- ‘head,’ indicating a long-standing medical lexeme. In early Greek medical texts, compounds describing head pain were used to differentiate cephalic symptoms from cranial trauma or facial pain. In English, cephalgia evolved to supplement simpler terms like “headache,” offering a more formal, diagnostic tone suitable for clinical discourse and scholarly articles. While “cephalgia” is precise, it remains uncommon in lay usage, where “headache” is the norm. The first known English medical usage dates to the 18th or 19th century, aligning with the expansion of printed medical lexicon during epidemiological and nosological developments of that era.
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Words that rhyme with "Cephalgia"
-gia sounds
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