Dictionary

echolalia en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɛkoʊˈleɪliə/ (US)
• /ˌɛkə(ʊ)ˈleɪlɪə/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From echo- + -lalia; echo- ultimately from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “reflected sound, echo”), -lalia from λαλιά (laliá, “talk, chat”).

Meanings

1. (countable, qualifier:autism, uncountable) The involuntary repetitive echoing of words or phrases spoken by another person; either immediate or delayed.
   • Their echolalic responses may be much more extensive than the single words or short phrases that are characteristic of normal echolalia. Thus, a pseudoverbal autistic child may respond to "Do you want a cookie, Jimmy?" with a replication of the very same words. 1984, Jon Eisenson, Aphasia and related disorders in children, page 30:
   • A child older than 24 months with echolalia as the only language is likely to receive a diagnosis of ASD[.] 2026 March 14, Marcio Moacyr Vasconcelos, Luciana Gonçalves Azevedo Vasconcelos, Adriana Rocha Brito, “Unveiling autism spectrum disorder for the pediatrician”, in Jornal de Pediatria, volume 102, supplement 1, →DOI, →ISSN, page 3:
2. (countable, uncountable) An infant's repetitive imitation of vocal sounds spoken by another person, occurring naturally during childhood development.
3. (countable, uncountable) Any apparently meaningless, repetitious noises, especially voices.
   • There was the boom of a bass drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader rang out suddenly above the echolalia of the garden. 1926, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Penguin, published 2000, page 50:

Forms

Deriveds

autoecholalia · echolalic

Hyponyms

movie talk · TV talk

Translations (21)

is bergmálstal (echoing of words or phrases) · lt echolalija (echoing of words or phrases) · es ecolalia (echoing of words or phrases) · sh eholalija (echoing of words or phrases) · tr ekolali (echoing of words or phrases) · fi ekolalia (echoing of words or phrases) · sh ехолалија (echoing of words or phrases) · de Echolalie (echoing of words or phrases) · sv ekolali (echoing of words or phrases) · fr écholalie (echoing of words or phrases) · it ecolalia (echoing of words or phrases) · pt ecolalia (echoing of words or phrases) · ca ecolàlia (echoing of words or phrases) · fi kaikupuhe (echoing of words or phrases) · nl echolalie (echoing of words or phrases) · cmn 模仿言語 /模仿言语 (echoing of words or phrases) · bg ехола́лия (echoing of words or phrases) · ro ecolalie (echoing of words or phrases) · pl echolalia (echoing of words or phrases) · ru эхола́лия (echoing of words or phrases) · cs echolálie (echoing of words or phrases)