Malaria Definition
mə-lârē-ə
noun
Unwholesome or poisonous air, as from marshy ground; miasma.
Webster's New World
An infectious disease, generally intermittent and recurrent, caused by any of various protozoans (genus Plasmodium) that are parasitic in the red blood corpuscles and are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected anopheles mosquito: it is characterized by severe chills and fever.
Webster's New World
Advertisement
Origin of Malaria
-
Italian from mala aria bad air (from the belief that malaria was caused by vapors emanating from swamps, rather than mosquitos that bred there) mala feminine of malo bad (from Latin malus mel-3 in Indo-European roots) aria air aria
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
-
From Italian mala aria meaning "bad air".
From Wiktionary
Related Articles
Malaria Is Also Mentioned In
Advertisement
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to malaria using the buttons below.