{ La"ta, La"tah } (?), n. [Malay.] A convulsive tic or hysteric neurosis prevalent among Malays, similar to or identical with miryachit and jumping disease, the person affected performing various involuntary actions and making rapid inarticulate ejaculations in imitation of the actions and words of another person.

{ La"ta, La"tah } (?), n. [Malay.] A convulsive tic or hysteric neurosis prevalent among Malays, similar to or identical with miryachit and jumping disease, the person affected performing various involuntary actions and making rapid inarticulate ejaculations in imitation of the actions and words of another person.

• a hyperstartling condition found in south-east Asia; a person suffering from this malady
       *1959: Latah is a condition occurring in Southeast Asia. Otherwise sane, Latahs compulsively imitate every motion once their attention is attracted by snapping the fingers or calling sharply. — William Burroughs, Naked Lunch
       *1989: It seemed to Sir Edwin that this patient, a young man who had never set foot outside England, was suffering from an ailment known as latah – common enough in the Malay archipelago but hitherto unknown, so far as the clinical records – admittedly not very reliable – could advise, in the temperate clime of northern Europe. — Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode