epidemic
epi·de·mic
adjective
(especially of medicine) of disease or anything resembling a disease; attacking or affecting many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously
- “an epidemic outbreak of influenza”
noun
a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time
Origin
From French épidémique, from épidémie, from Medieval Latin epidēmia, reanalysis of plural Late Latin epidēmia, from Ancient Greek ἐπιδήμιος (epidḗmios), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + δῆμος (dêmos, “people”). By surface analysis, epi- (“on”) + demic (“of the people”).
Phrases
- epidemic curve
- virgin soil epidemic
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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.