Diphtheria
noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A serious infectious disease leading to inflammation of mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae. countable, uncountable
"Today diphtheria has become so rare — just five cases in the United States in the most recent decade measured — that many doctors would struggle to recognize it."
- 2 acute contagious infection caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae; marked by the formation of a false membrane in the throat and other air passages causing difficulty in breathing wordnet
Example
More examples"The toxin that causes diphtheria is produced by a normally benign bacterium when infected with a certain virus."
Etymology
From French diphtérie (later for a while also spelled diphthérie) in 1857, which was coined in 1855 with the suffix -ie to replace -ite in the previous term diphtérite for the disease because it affects more than one part of the body. The previous term (later for a while also spelled diphthérite) was coined in 1817 by Pierre Bretonneau using Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphthéra, “prepared hide, leather”) in reference to the tough membrane that forms in the throat. Bretonneau perhaps coined and used the Latin term diphtheritis (with its close imitation of Greek spelling typical of Neolatin) even earlier than the French term diphtérite, which follows the French habit of sometimes spelling t for the Latin transliteration th of Greek θ (but not, for example, in thermomètre).
Related phrases
More for "diphtheria"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.