'Crisis' is Greek for 'decision' — the turning point when a patient either lives or dies.
A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger; a turning point in a disease when an important change takes place.
From Latin 'crisis,' from Greek 'krísis' (κρίσις, a separating, a decision, a judgment, a turning point), from 'krínein' (to separate, to decide, to judge), from PIE *krey- (to sieve, to separate). The original meaning was a decisive moment — the point at which things are separated and the outcome determined. In Hippocratic medicine, 'krísis' was the turning point in a disease when the patient either recovered or died. The political sense of 'danger' came later
The popular claim that the Chinese word for 'crisis' is composed of the characters for 'danger' and 'opportunity' is a myth. The word 'wēijī' (危机) combines 'danger' with 'jī,' which means 'crucial point' or 'incipient moment,' not 'opportunity.' Ironically, this is closer to the original Greek meaning — a decisive moment, not a hopeful one.
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