/vair"ni keuh kawr"seuh kawf', -kof'/
a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by abnormal eye movements, incoordination, confusion, and impaired memory and learning functions, caused by thiamine deficiency, and observed in chronic alcoholism.
[ 1965-70; named after German neurologist Karl Wernicke (1848-1905) and Russian psychiatrist Sergei Sergeevich Korsakov (1854-1900), who independently described it ]