have a cramp
痙 centers on an involuntary, painful muscle contraction: having a cramp or spasm.
痙 combines 疒 (sickness) with 巠, which likely contributes the sound ケイ. The character expresses a sickness involving muscle tension or cramping.
The sickness enclosure 疒 wraps around 巠, which looks like a tense, knotted shape. Picture a muscle knotting up painfully under the skin, causing a cramp.
For ケイ, imagine a cramp so sharp it makes you say 'K!' and then 'A!' — the two sounds blend into ケイ as the muscle seizes.
convulsion; cramp; spasm; tic; twitch; fit
lockjaw; trismus
familial spastic paraplegia
writer's cramp
bronchospasm; bronchial spasm
cervical dystonia; spasmodic torticollis
spastic paralysis
to have convulsions
spasticity; contracture; (muscle) stiffness
blepharospasm; spasmodic winking
gastrospasm; stomach spasm; stomach cramps
vaginismus; vaginal spasm
spasmolysis
antispasmodic drug; spasmolytic drug; anticonvulsant drug
antispasmodic drug; spasmolytic drug; anticonvulsant drug
facial spasm; facial tic