Phrase guide

bubonic plague

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /bjuːˈbɒ.nɪkˌpleɪɡ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A contagious, often fatal, epidemic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted by the bite of fleas from an infected person or rodent, especially a rat, and characterized by delirium, chills, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and the formation of buboes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pestis bubonica, glandular plague

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: plague, pestilence, pest, pestis

Narrower terms: ambulant plague, ambulatory plague, pestis ambulans, Black Death, Black Plague

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: builepes — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Afrikaans: pasteurellose — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Asturian: peste bubónica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Azerbaijani: bubon taunu — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Basque: izurri pneumoniko — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Belarusian: бубо́нная чума́ (bubónnaja čumá) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Bengali: বিউবনিক প্লেগ (biubonik pleg) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Breton: bosenn werblus — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Burmese: ဘင်နာ (bhangna) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Burmese: ပလိပ် (pa.lip) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Chinese Mandarin: 腺鼠疫 (xiànshǔyì) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Czech: bubonický mor — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Danish: byldepest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Dutch: builenpest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Esperanto: bubona pesto — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Faroese: svullapest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Finnish: paiserutto — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • French: peste bubonique — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Galician: peste bubónica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Georgian: შავი ჭირი (šavi č̣iri) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Georgian: ჟამი (žami) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • German: Beulenpest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Greek: βουβωνική πανώλη (vouvonikí panóli) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Hawaiian: piwa ʻeleʻele — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Icelandic: kýlapest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Indonesian: pes bubo — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Interlingua: peste bubonic — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Irish: plá bhúbónach — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Japanese: 腺ペスト (sen pesuto) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Khmer: រោគប៉ែស្ដ (rouk paehdɑɑ) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Latin: pestis bubonica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Lithuanian: buboninis maras — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Macedonian: бу́бонска чу́ма (búbonska čúma) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Māori: mate pūponiki — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Mongolian: тарваган тахал (tarvagan taxal) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Navajo: dlóóʼ binaalniih — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Norwegian Bokmål: byllepest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: byllepest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Odia: ବୁବୋନିକ୍ ପ୍ଲେଗ୍ (bubonik pleg) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Persian: طاعُونِ خیارَکِی — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Polish: dżuma dymienicza — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Brazilian Portuguese: peste bubônica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • European Portuguese: peste bubónica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Romanian: pestă bubonică — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Russian: бубо́нная чума́ (bubónnaja čumá) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Sicilian: pesti bubbònica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Spanish: peste bubónica — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Swahili: tauni — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Swedish: böldpest — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Turkish: hıyarcıklı veba — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis
  • Ukrainian: бубо́нна чума́ (bubónna čumá) — disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis