tic

noun

1. Pathology.
   1. a sudden, spasmodic, painless, involuntary muscular contraction, as of the face.
   2. tic douloureux.
2. a persistent or recurrent behavioral trait; personal quirk: her distinctive verbal tics.

1. a suffix, equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring in adjectives of Greek origin (analytic), used especially in the formation of adjectives from nouns with stems in -sis: hematotic; neurotic.

noun pathol

1. spasmodic twitching of a particular group of muscles
2. See tic douloureux

n.twitching of a facial muscle, 1822, often a shortening of tic douloureux “severe facial neuralgia,” literally “painful twitch” (1800), from French tic “a twitching disease of horses” (early 17c.), of unknown origin. Klein suggests an imitative origin; French etymologists compare it to Italian ticchio “whim, caprice.” n.

1. A habitual spasmodic muscular movement or contraction, usually of the face or extremities.habit spasm