Shingles

//ˈʃɪŋɡəlz// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Herpes zoster, caused by Human herpes virus 3, in genus Varicellovirus. informal, uncountable

    "From the description, Letha felt sure Jane had herpes zoster, or shingles, which often strikes cancer patients or others with depressed immune systems. Jane spent another week in the Bubble, treated with acyclovir."

  2. 2
    plural of shingle form-of, plural
  3. 3
    eruptions along a nerve path often accompanied by severe neuralgia wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
herpes zosterherpes zosteracneacne vulgarisacute articular rheumatismafrican lethargy

Example

More examples

"Quite a few shingles flew off the roof during the storm."

Etymology

From Latin cingulus, variant of cingulum (“girdle”), translating Ancient Greek ζώνη (zṓnē), ζωστήρ (zōstḗr).

Related phrases

chicken poxherpes zoster

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.