Today’s Zippy, featuring Griffy and Claude:
Floccillation is indeed an attested word in English, though one few people know and few have a use for.
From Dorland’s Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers (2007):
the aimless picking at bedclothes by a patient with delirium, dementia, fever, or exhaustion.
OED2 has the etymology: < Latin *floccillus diminutive of floccus flock n.2 + –ation suffix. And the first cite:
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 457/1 Floccillation, picking the bed-clothes. This is a very alarming symptom in many acute diseases.
The relevant noun flock, from NOAD2:
a soft material for stuffing cushions, quilts, and other soft furnishings, made of wool refuse or torn-up cloth: flock mattresses.
• powdered wool or cloth, sprinkled on wallpaper, cloth, or metal to make a raised pattern.
• a lock or tuft of wool or cotton.
The OED even provides a synonym for the medical term floccillation:
carphology: < Greek καρϕολογία (Galen), < κάρϕος twig, straw, bit of wool + λέγειν to collect.
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