Standard Lemma guide

illness

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.

  • /ˈɪl.nəs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪlnəs
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 L N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Examples

  • Her grandmother had passed away after a long illness.
  • suffer form a severe illness
  • a mild illness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A state of bad health or disease.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • Many working days this year have been lost through illness.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unwellness, malady, sickness

Antonyms: wellness

Broader terms: ill health, unhealthiness, health problem

Narrower terms: condition, ague, amyloidosis, anuresis, anuria, catastrophic illness, collapse, prostration, decompression sickness, aeroembolism, air embolism, gas embolism, caisson disease, bends, food poisoning, gastrointestinal disorder, lead poisoning, plumbism, saturnism, disease, hypermotility, indisposition, ozone sickness, toxemia of pregnancy, toxaemia of pregnancy, toxemia, toxaemia, growth

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English ill Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English illness From ill + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

243 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: siekte — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Aklanon: sakit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Albanian: sëmundje — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Arabic: مَرَض (maraḍ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Arabic: دَاء (dāʔ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Armenian: հիվանդություն (hivandutʻyun) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Aromanian: lãngoari — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Aromanian: tetã — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Assamese: ৰোগ (rüg) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Azerbaijani: xəstəlik — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bangi: bokono — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bashkir: ауырыу (awırıw) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Belarusian: хваро́ба (xvaróba) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bengali: রোগ (rōg) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bengali: অসুস্থতা (ośusthota) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bengali: ব্যাধি (bêdhi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Central Bikol: hilang — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bulgarian: бо́лест (bólest) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Bulgarian: заболя́ване (zaboljávane) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Burmese: နာမကျန်း (nama.kyan:) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Burmese: ဗျာဓိ (byadhi.) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Burmese: အဖျားအနာ (a.hpya:a.na) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Burmese: ရောဂါ (rau:ga) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Buryat: үбшэн (übšen) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Carpathian Rusyn: хворота (xvorota) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Catalan: malaltia — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Cherokee: ᎥᏳᎩ (vyugi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese: бин (bin) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese: бинҗи (binji) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese: бемар (biəmar) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 疾病 (jíbìng) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病症 (bìngzhèng) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病 (bìng) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 患病期間 /患病期间 (huànbìng qījiān) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病情 (bìngqíng) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病疾 (bìngjí) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chukchi: тъычгыргын (tʺyčgyrgyn) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Chukchi: аʼратгыргын (aʼratgyrgyn) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ngazidja Comorian: uwaɗe class 11/10 — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Crimean Tatar: maraz — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Czech: nemoc — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Danish: sygdom — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Dutch: ziekte — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Dutch: aandoening — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Egyptian: U23-m-r:*t-nDs (mrt) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Esperanto: afekcio — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Esperanto: malsano — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Estonian: haigus — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Finnish: sairaus — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • French: maladie — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Galician: enfermidade — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Galician: doenza — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Georgian: ავადმყოფობა (avadmq̇opoba) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • German: Krankheit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • German: Chranket — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐍃 (sauhts) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌿𐌺𐌴𐌹 (siukei) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌹 (unhaili) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Greek: αρρώστια (arróstia) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Greek: ασθένεια (asthéneia) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ancient Greek: νόσος (nósos) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Greek: νοῦσος (noûsos) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Gujarati: બીમારી (bīmārī) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Gujarati: માંદગી (mā̃dgī) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hawaiian: maʻi — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hebrew: מַחֲלָה (makhalá) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: रोग (rog) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: बीमारी (bīmārī) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: अस्वस्थता (asvasthatā) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: मरज़ (maraz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: मर्ज़ (marz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hindi: व्याधि (vyādhi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hopi: tuuya — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Hungarian: betegség — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Icelandic: sjúkdómur — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Indonesian: penyakit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ingrian: tauti — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ingrian: läsy — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ingrian: topi — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Irish: breoiteacht — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Irish: othras — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Irish: galar — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Italian: malattia — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Japanese: 病気 (byōki) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Japanese: 疾病 (shippei) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Kannada: ರೋಗ (rōga) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Kannada: ಅನಾರೋಗ್ಯ (anārōgya) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Kazakh: ауру (auru) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Khmer: ជំងឺ (cumngɨɨ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Khmer: ជម្ងឺ (cɔɔcumngɨɨ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Khmer: រោគ (rook) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Korean: 질병 (jilbyeong) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Korean: 병 (byeong) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Northern Kurdish: nexweşî — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Northern Kurdish: bîmarî — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Northern Kurdish: merez — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Kyrgyz: оору (ooru) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ladino: hazinura — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lao: ພະຍາດ (pha nyāt) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lao: ໂຣກ (rōk) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lao: ໂລກ (lōk) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lao: ໂຣຄາ (rō khā) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lao: ໂລຄາ (lō khā) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Latin: morbus — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Latin: aegror — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Latvian: slimība — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lingala: maláli — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lingala: bokono — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Lithuanian: liga — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Luxembourgish: Krankheet — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Luxembourgish: Kränkt — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Macedonian: болест (bolest) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Malay: penyakit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Malayalam: രോഗം (rōgaṁ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Maltese: mard — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Manchu: ᠨᡳᠮᡝᡴᡠ (nimeku) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Mansaka: sakit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Marathi: रोग (rog) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Marathi: आजार (ājār) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Mauritian Creole: maladi — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Middle English: seknesse — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Mongolian: өвчин (övčin) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Mongolian: ᠡᠪᠡᠳᠴᠢᠨ (ebedčin) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Nepali: रोग (rog) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norman: maladie — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sykdom — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sjukdom — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sjuke — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Bokmål: syke — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjukdom — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjuke — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Occitan: malautiá — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Northwestern Ojibwa: aakoziwin — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Old English: ādl — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Oromo: dhukkuba — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ossetian: рын (ryn) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Papiamentu: malu — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Pashto: بيماري (bimārí) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Pashto: ناروغي (nāroǧí) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Pashto: مرض (maráz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Iranian Persian: بیماری (bimâri) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Iranian Persian: مَرَض (maraz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Iranian Persian: ناخوشی (nâxoši) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Plautdietsch: Krankheit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Polish: choroba — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Portuguese: doença — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Portuguese: enfermidade — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Portuguese: maladia — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Punjabi: ਬਿਮਾਰੀ (bimārī) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Romanian: boală — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Russian: боле́знь (boléznʹ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Russian: хворь (xvorʹ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Russian: неду́г (nedúg) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Sanskrit: रोग (roga) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Sanskrit: व्याधि (vyādhi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Sanskrit: अस्वस्थता (asvasthatā) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Serbo-Croatian: бо̏ле̄ст — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Serbo-Croatian: bȍlēst — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Sicilian: malatìa — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Sinhalese: ලඩෙ (laḍe) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Slovak: choroba — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Slovak: nemoc — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Slovene: bolezen — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Spanish: enfermedad — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Swahili: ugonjwa — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Swahili: maradhi — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Swedish: sjukdom — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tagalog: sakit — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tajik: беморӣ (bemori) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tajik: касалӣ (kasali) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tajik: мараз (maraz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tajik: нохушӣ (noxuši) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tamil: நோய் (nōy) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tamil: ரோகம் (rōkam) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tatar: авыру (awıru) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Telugu: వ్యాధి (vyādhi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Telugu: రోగము (rōgamu) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Thai: โรค (rôok) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Thai: โรคา (roo-kaa) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Thai: โรคภัย (rôok-pai) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Thai: พยาธิ (pá-yâat) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tibetan: ན་ཚ (na tsha) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tibetan: སྙུང་གཞི (snyung gzhi) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Tocharian B: teki — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Turkish: hastalık — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Turkish: maraz — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ottoman Turkish: خستهلق (hastalık) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ottoman Turkish: علت (ʼillet) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ottoman Turkish: مرض (maraz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Turkmen: hassalyk — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Turkmen: kesel — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Turkmen: nähoşlyk — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎗𐎕 (mrṣ) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ukrainian: хворо́ба (xvoróba) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ukrainian: захво́рювання (zaxvórjuvannja) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Ukrainian: неду́га (nedúha) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Urdu: بِیماری (bīmārī) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Urdu: مَرْض (marz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Urdu: مَرَض (maraz) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Urdu: روگ (rog) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Uyghur: كېسەللىك (kësellik) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Uzbek: kasallik — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Uzbek: xastalik — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Vietnamese: bệnh — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Vietnamese: sự đau yếu — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Vietnamese: sự ốm — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Volapük: maläd — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Welsh: salwch — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Yakut: ыарыы (ïarïï) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Yiddish: קראַנקײַט (krankayt) — an instance of a disease or poor health
  • Armenian: անառողջություն (anaṙoġǰutʻyun) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Bashkir: ауырыу (awırıw) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Bashkir: сир (sir) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Bulgarian: боледу́ване (boledúvane) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Catalan: malaltia — a state of bad health or disease
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病 (bìng) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Chinese Mandarin: 生病 (shēngbìng) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Danish: syg — a state of bad health or disease
  • Finnish: sairaus — a state of bad health or disease
  • French: maladie — a state of bad health or disease
  • Galician: enfermidade — a state of bad health or disease
  • Galician: doenza — a state of bad health or disease
  • Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐍃 (sauhts) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌿𐌺𐌴𐌹 (siukei) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Greek: ασθένεια (asthéneia) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Hindi: रोग (rog) — a state of bad health or disease
  • Hungarian: betegség — a state of bad health or disease
  • Irish: othras — a state of bad health or disease
  • Irish: galar — a state of bad health or disease
  • Italian: malattia — a state of bad health or disease
  • Malay: sakit — a state of bad health or disease
  • Māori: māuiuitanga — a state of bad health or disease
  • Portuguese: enfermidade — a state of bad health or disease
  • Portuguese: doença — a state of bad health or disease
  • Scottish Gaelic: euslaint — a state of bad health or disease
  • Serbo-Croatian: oboljenje — a state of bad health or disease
  • Serbo-Croatian: oboljelost — a state of bad health or disease
  • Serbo-Croatian: bolest — a state of bad health or disease
  • Serbo-Croatian: болест — a state of bad health or disease
  • Sicilian: malatìa — a state of bad health or disease
  • Spanish: enfermedad — a state of bad health or disease
  • Swahili: ugonjwa — a state of bad health or disease
  • Unami: palsëwakàn — a state of bad health or disease
Real reading context

illness in complete knowledge articles