kinesthesia

Etymology

Coined based on Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, “I put in motion”) + αἴσθησις (-αισθησία) (aísthēsis (-aisthēsía), “sensation”) (after anesthesia, etc). Compare kinesthesis and Greek κιναισθησία (kinaisthisía). Notes If this word were borrowed on fully traditional principles it would be cinesthesia (or cinaesthesia); compare cinema from the same root. But more often this Greek root is spelled and pronounced with a k, and in the case of kinesthesia this avoids inconvenient homophony with synaesthesia, the sensation of one type of perception as another (e.g. the perception of smells as colors). Nevertheless the words are still occasionally confused; e.g. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0849303710&id=_u4sZjHHwCYC&pg=PA581&lpg=PA581&dq=cinesthesia&sig=gFEo5BGoW75XcUVTk44aHGKgGuc.

noun

1. Sensation or perception of motion.
   1. (physiology) The perception of the movement of one's own body, its limbs and muscles etc.
   2. (performing arts) A spectator's perception of the motion of a performer, or, the effect of the motion of a scene on the spectator.
2. Proprioception or static position sense; the perception of the position and posture of the body; also, more broadly, including the motion of the body as well. See usage notes below.