Standard Lemma guide

flu

noun · 3 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.

  • UK: /fluː/
  • Australian: /flʉː/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -uː
  • homophone: flew
  • homophone: flue
  • CMU ARPABET: F L UW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Influenza.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • catch flu
  • get over the flu
  • transmit flu
  • He missed work because he caught the flu.
  • Every winter, doctors warn about seasonal flu.
  • She felt like she had the flu, with aches and fever.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Stomach flu.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an acute febrile highly contagious viral disease

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: influenza, grippe

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: contagious disease, contagion, respiratory disease, respiratory illness, respiratory disorder

Narrower terms: Asian influenza, Asiatic flu, swine influenza, swine flu

History

Etymology

Clipping of influenza.

Across languages

Translations

101 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: griep — influenza
  • Albanian: grip — influenza
  • Arabic: إِنْفْلُوِنْزَا (ʔinfluwinzā) — influenza
  • Arabic: گريب (grīb) — influenza
  • Armenian: գրիպ (grip) — influenza
  • Azerbaijani: qrip — influenza
  • Belarusian: грып (hryp) — influenza
  • Bengali: ইনফ্লুয়েঞ্জা (inphluẏenja) — influenza
  • Bengali: ফ্লু (phlu) — influenza
  • Bulgarian: грип (grip) — influenza
  • Bulgarian: инфлуе́нца (influénca) — influenza
  • Burmese: တုတ်ကွေးရောဂါ (tutkwe:rau:ga) — influenza
  • Catalan: grip — influenza
  • Chamicuro: e'tes̈huli — influenza
  • Chinese Mandarin: 流行性感冒 (liúxíngxìnggǎnmào) — influenza
  • Chinese Mandarin: 流感 (liúgǎn) — influenza
  • Czech: chřipka — influenza
  • Danish: influenza — influenza
  • Dutch: griep — influenza
  • Esperanto: gripo — influenza
  • Estonian: gripp — influenza
  • Finnish: influenssa — influenza
  • French: grippe — influenza
  • Galician: gripe — influenza
  • Galician: gripio — influenza
  • Galician: gripallo — influenza
  • Galician: gripalleira — influenza
  • Galician: gripallada — influenza
  • Galician: gripaxe — influenza
  • Georgian: გრიპი (griṗi) — influenza
  • German: Grippe — influenza
  • Greek: γρίπη (grípi) — influenza
  • Hebrew: שפעת (shapa'at) — influenza
  • Hindi: इनफ़्लुएंज़ा (influenzā) — influenza
  • Hungarian: influenza — influenza
  • Icelandic: flensa — influenza
  • Icelandic: inflúensa — influenza
  • Indonesian: influenza — influenza
  • Indonesian: flu — influenza
  • Italian: influenza — influenza
  • Japanese: インフルエンザ (infuruenza) — influenza
  • Japanese: インフル (abbr) — influenza
  • Japanese: 流行性感冒 (ryūkōsē-kanbō) — influenza
  • Kannada: ಇನ್ಫ್ಲುಯೆನ್ಜ (inphluyenja) — influenza
  • Kazakh: тұмау (tūmau) — influenza
  • Khmer: ជំងឺគ្រុនផ្ដាសាយ (cumŋɨɨ krun pdaahsaay) — influenza
  • Khmer: គ្រុនផ្ដាសាយ (krun pdaahsaay) — influenza
  • Korean: 인플루엔자 (inpeulluenja) — influenza
  • Kyrgyz: грипп (gripp) — influenza
  • Kyrgyz: тумоо (tumoo) — influenza
  • Lao: ໄຂ້ຫວັດໃຫຍ່ (khai huat h) — influenza
  • Latin: influentia — influenza
  • Latvian: gripa — influenza
  • Lithuanian: gripas — influenza
  • Luxembourgish: Gripp — influenza
  • Macedonian: грип (grip) — influenza
  • Malay: influenza — influenza
  • Malayalam: ഇൻഫ്ലുവെൻസ (iṉphluveṉsa) — influenza
  • Marshallese: būļu — influenza
  • Mongolian: томуу (tomuu) — influenza
  • Mongolian: ханиад (xaniad) — influenza
  • Khiamniungan Naga: vēimū — influenza
  • Navajo: tahoniigááh — influenza
  • Nepali: रुघा (rughā) — influenza
  • Norman: grippe — influenza
  • Persian: انفلوانزا (anfoluânzâ) — influenza
  • Polish: grypa — influenza
  • Portuguese: gripe — influenza
  • Romanian: gripă — influenza
  • Russian: грипп (gripp) — influenza
  • Russian: инфлюэ́нца (infljuénca) — influenza
  • Samoan: fulū — influenza
  • Scottish Gaelic: cnatan mòr — influenza
  • Serbo-Croatian: грип — influenza
  • Serbo-Croatian: инфлуенца — influenza
  • Serbo-Croatian: grip — influenza
  • Serbo-Croatian: influenca — influenza
  • Slovak: chrípka — influenza
  • Slovene: gripa — influenza
  • Spanish: gripe — influenza
  • Spanish: gripa — influenza
  • Spanish: gripola — influenza
  • Swedish: influensa — influenza
  • Swedish: flunsa — influenza
  • Tagalog: trangkaso — influenza
  • Tajik: грипп (gripp) — influenza
  • Tamil: இன்ஃபுளுவென்சா (iṉfuḷuveṉcā) — influenza
  • Tatar: грипп (gripp) — influenza
  • Telugu: ఫ్లూ (phlū) — influenza
  • Thai: ไข้หวัดใหญ่ (kâi wàt yài) — influenza
  • Tibetan: ཚད་རིམས། — influenza
  • Turkish: grip — influenza
  • Turkmen: grip — influenza
  • Ukrainian: грип (hryp) — influenza
  • Urdu: انفلوئنزا (influenzā) — influenza
  • Urdu: نزلہ — influenza
  • Uzbek: gripp — influenza
  • Vietnamese: bệnh cúm — influenza
  • Vietnamese: cúm — influenza
  • Yiddish: גריפּע (gripe) — influenza
  • Zulu: imfuluwenza — influenza