plague

Pronunciation: /plɛɡ/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal
  2. noun any epidemic disease with a high death rate
  3. noun a swarm of insects that attack plants

Etymology

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.

In classic literature

Synonyms

pestilence, pest, pestis

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
epidemic disease
Narrower (hyponyms)
pneumonic plague, bubonic plague, septicemic plague

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