noun
Meaning 1
Syphilis.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, euphemistic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: French pox, French gout
Antonyms: none provided
Phrase guide
French disease
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.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
History
Etymology
The full explanation of why syphilis was called the French disease as a calque across various languages involves a 1495 outbreak involving French soldiers (more in Wikipedia at History of syphilis); but it is also true that this term is one of several that blame othered ethnicities for distasteful and unseemly things.
Across languages
Translations
9 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Finnish: ranskantauti — syphilis
- French: mal de Naples — syphilis
- French: mal italien — syphilis
- French: gale de Naples — syphilis
- German: Franzosenkrankheit — syphilis
- Korean: 당옴 (dang'om) — syphilis
- Latin: morbus gallicus — syphilis
- Polish: francuska choroba — syphilis
- Spanish: mal francés — syphilis