crisis

Term: crisis and adjectival form critical

Origin: Anc Greek κρίσις/crisis (=judgment, separation) > verb κραίνω /creno (=govern, rule, decide, separate)

Coined: by Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) to denote the turning point for better (sudden recovering) or worse (deterioration) in an acute disease “ … "In general, the diseases reached a crisis with difficulty, or there was no crisis and the illness remained chronic..." (Hippocratic Writings, p. 125).

Definition:

A crucial or turning point of a situation