Link Centre Dictionary

diphtheria

dipht·he·ria

UK/dɪfˈθɪə.ɹi.ə/ US/dɪfˈθɪɹ.i.ə/ rare

noun

1.

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

Origin

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.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.