¦tāˈsaks- noun
also tay-sachs
Usage: usually capitalized T&S
Etymology: after Waren Tay died 1927 English physician and Bernard P. Sachs died 1944 American neurologist
: a hereditary disorder of lipid metabolism that typically affects individuals of eastern European Jewish ancestry, that is marked by the accumulation of lipids especially in nervous tissue due to a deficiency of hexosaminidase, that is characterized by weakness, macrocephaly, red retinal spots, extremely acute hearing, retarded development, blindness, convulsions, paralysis, and death in early childhood, that that is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait