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acmesthesia

/ˌækməsˈθiʒə/
IPA guide

Some lab technicians who take blood for medical tests are so expert that all you experience when they insert the needle is acmesthesia — a sharp point pricking or piercing your skin, but no pain.

That’s probably also what is experienced by those people who can lie down on a bed of nails! Acmesthesia combines the word acme, which means "point or tip," with the Greek esthesia, which means "feeling." That second part might look familiar from the word anesthesia, a condition where you can't feel anything — usually because you've been given a drug, also called anesthesia, that puts you to sleep.

Definitions of acmesthesia
  1. noun
    the sensation of something sharp on the skin, such as a needle or other pointed object, but without pain
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