Standard Lemma guide

dengue

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.

  • General-American: /ˈdɛŋ.ɡi/
  • General-American: /ˈdɛŋ.ɡeɪ/
  • UK: /ˈdɛŋ.ɡi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • South-Asia: /ˈɖɛŋ.ɡu/
  • South-Asia: /-ɡi/
  • /ˈɖɛŋɡ.ɯ/ Tanglish, also
  • Philippines: /ˈd̪ɛŋ.ɡɛ/
  • rhymes with -ɛŋɡi
  • rhymes with (General American) -ɛŋɡeɪ
  • CMU ARPABET: D EH1 N G Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterized by rash and aching head and joints

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dengue fever, dandy fever, breakbone fever

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: infectious disease

History

Etymology

From West Indian Spanish dengue in 1828, from the Kiswahili term dinga (in full kidingapopo or kidinga pepo, "a kind of sudden cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit", dinga itself meaning sudden cramp-like seizure). The borrowed term changed to dengue in Spanish due to this word existing in Spanish with the meaning "fastidiousness" and the folk etymology referring to the dislike of movement by affected patients of chikungunya which was also reffered to as dengue until the first half of the 20th century.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Burmese: သွေးလွန်တုပ်ကွေး (swe:lwantupkwe:) — disease
  • Catalan: dengue — disease
  • Chinese Mandarin: 登革 (dēnggé) — disease
  • Dinka: juän awuɔp — disease
  • Dutch: knokkelkoorts — disease
  • Dutch: dengue — disease
  • Finnish: denguekuume — disease
  • French: dengue — disease
  • German: Denguefieber — disease
  • Greek: δάγγειος πυρετός (dángeios pyretós) — disease
  • Hindi: डंगू (ḍaṅgū) — disease
  • Hindi: डैंगू (ḍaiṅgū) — disease
  • Hindi: डैङ्गू (ḍaiṅgū) — disease
  • Hindi: डैंगू फीवर (ḍaiṅgū phīvar) — disease
  • Hindi: डंगूज्वर (ḍaṅgūjvar) — disease
  • Hindi: डंगू ज्वर (ḍaṅgū jvar) — disease
  • Hindi: लँगड़ा बुखार (laṅgṛā bukhār) — disease
  • Indonesian: demam berdarah — disease
  • Japanese: デング熱 (dengu-netsu) — disease
  • Japanese: デンゲ熱 (denge-netsu) — disease
  • Khmer: រោគគ្រុនចាញ់ (rookkruncañ) — disease
  • Lao: ໄຂ້ເລືອດອອກ (khai lư̄at ʼǭk) — disease
  • Lao: ພະຍາດໄຂ້ເລືອດອອກ (pha nyāt khai lư̄at ʼǭk) — disease
  • Malay: denggi — disease
  • Polish: denga — disease
  • Portuguese: dengue — disease
  • Spanish: dengue — disease
  • Swahili: kidingapopo — disease
  • Tagalog: dengge — disease
  • Thai: ไข้เด็งกี (kâi denggee) — disease
  • Turkish: dang humması — disease
  • Vietnamese: sốt xuất huyết Dingue — disease