means A state of physical or mental inactivity, sluggishness, or dormancy — a deep slowing-down that borders on suspended animation.

from From Latin torpor, meaning numbness or stiffness, born from the verb torpere, "to be stiff or numb." It's a cousin of "torpid," and even of "torpedo" — which originally named the electric ray, a fish whose shock left its victims numb and motionless. The Latin root carries the chill of something gone still and unfeeling, which is exactly the sensation the word still delivers.