malaria

Meaning

  1. (countable, uncountable) A disease spread by mosquito, in which a protozoan, Plasmodium, multiplies in blood every few days.
  2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Supposed poisonous air arising from marshy districts, once thought to cause fever.

Synonyms

swamp fever

have fever

malaria tropical disease

chills and fever

mosquito fever

pestilential pathogen

fever and chills

malarial fever

Frequency

C2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/məˈlɛə.ɹi.ə/
Etymology

Borrowed from Italian malaria, formed from mal- (“bad”) and aria (“air”). Introduced into English by the Scottish geologist John MacCulloch (1773–1835). Displaced native Old English unlyft (literally “bad air”).

Notes

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