Starts and Ends with A Trivia Quiz

Answer: Inability to understand or use words after a stroke

According to the Mayo Clinic aphasia can affect your speech, but it can also affect written language as well as spoken. Head injury as well as stroke can cause aphasia.

According to the etymology dictionary, the first "a" is a Greek prefix that means without, and Phasis means "utterance".

Answer: Lacking in muscle tone

Amyotonia is sometimes also referred to as Oppenheim Disease. It was named after Hermann Oppenheim (1858-1919) who according to the "Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry" (vol 74, Issue 5), actually described another condition known as myotonia congenitia in his book, but somehow there was some confusion and his name got attached to amyotonia congenitia.

The disorder is congenital as the name implies, and if a child survives past 18 months old, they may show improvement.

The etymology of amyotonia is the prefix "a" which means without plus "mytonia" which means muscular stiffness.

Answer: Third to last syllable in a multisyllabic word

For instance, in the word beautiful there are three syllables. Beau/ti/ful. The syllable "beau" is the antepenultima.

Working backward we see that "ultima" is last. The word penultimate means second to last. And since the prefix "ante" means before, then antepenulitma would have to mean, before the second to the last, ergo, the third to the last.

Answer: A type of dwarfism

According to the Little People UK website, there are 14 types of dwarfism, but according to WebMD, there are 40 types.

The etymology of achondroplasia is the prefix "a" which means without, plus the Greek word "khrondros" which which means cartilage, plus the Greek "plasis" which means molding, plus the English suffix "ia" which means a disease or a condition.

Answer: Absence or abnormality of a woman's menstrual cycle

According to the Mayo Clinic "primary amenorrhea" is when a girl has not yet gotten her period by the time she has turned fifteen years old.

The etymology of amenorrhea is "a" which means not plus the Greek word "men" which means month, plus "rhein" which means to flow.

Answer: A small anchovy fish

An anchoveta is a Pacific Ocean fish, whereas the anchovy is an Atlantic Ocean fish. The anchoveta is also called a Peruvian anchovy since it is located mainly along the coast of Peru.

The etymology of the word anchoveta comes from Spanish. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, it is the "diminutive of anchova." Anchova is the Spanish word for anchovy.

Answer: Cloak worn by ancient Greeks and Romans

According to the Collins online dictionary, the word abolla was first used in the late 1860s to early 1870s, even though it described a garment worn by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The etymology of the word is from the Greek word that means throwing back.

Answer: Saddlebag

The word alforja was first used around 1826.

The word comes from Spanish via the Arabic word "al-khurj."

Answer: An instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin

The glass armonica was also called the glass harmonica. Franklin saw someone playing glasses of water at a concert, and decided to invent an advanced version of the glass water instrument and so came the armonica. At first, it was very popular, but then superstitions of people believing the high-pitched sound drove people mad, and even drove them to suicide making them less popular (but this was never scientifically proven). There was also, again never proven, a belief that playing the instruments caused lead poisoning. Franklin played them all his life and never experienced any health issues. However, some places banned the armonica, and it became forgotten until recently when musicians such as Dennis James started to revive the instrument again.

The word armonica comes from the Italian word for harmony.

Answer: Lack or absence of B cells that have matured

Agammaglobulinemia is a group of rare disorders in which mature B cells are missing or lacking in a person.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary states the etymology of this word is the prefix "a" which means without, plus "gamma globulin" which is a protein of blood that has a lot of antibodies in it, and then the prefix "emia" which means a condition in the blood.