Phrase guide

long covid

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌlɒŋ ˈkəʊvɪd/
  • General-American: /ˌlɔŋ ˈkoʊvɪd/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊvɪd

1

noun

Meaning 1

Alternative letter-case form of long COVID.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Long-term sequelae or symptoms (such as brain fog, extreme fatigue, or shortness of breath) following a COVID-19 infection, which persist after the SARS-CoV-2 virus is no longer active.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chronic Covid, chronic COVID syndrome, long-haul COVID, long-tail Covid, long-term Covid, ongoing covid, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, post Covid, post-COVID-19 condition, post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID syndrome

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Long-term negative economic effects persisting after the COVID pandemic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, informal, uncountable

Topics: economics, sciences

Examples

  • 2021, Chenyan Lyu, Tooraj Jamasb, Jan Peter Georg Spanholtz, The Long Covid of Energy Markets and Prices [See title.]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Blend of long-term + COVID, coined by Elisa Perego, an archaeologist working in London and sufferer of the condition who used the term in tweets on the online social networking service Twitter as a hashtag and in running text in May 2020 (see the quotations), leading to its widespread use.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: Covid-i kronik — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Basque: COVID iraunkor — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Catalan: COVID-19 persistent — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Chinese Mandarin: 長期新冠 /长期新冠 (chángqī xīnguān) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Czech: dlouhý covid — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Danish: senfølger af COVID-19 — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Dutch: long covid — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Finnish: pitkä korona — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • French: Covid long — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Georgian: ხანგრძლივი კოვიდი (xangrʒlivi ḳovidi) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Georgian: გრძელვადიანი კოვიდი (grʒelvadiani ḳovidi) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • German: Long COVID — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Greek: μακροχρόνια COVID-19 (makrochrónia COVID-19) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Italian: sindrome post-COVID-19 — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Northern Kurdish: COVIDa dirêj — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Northern Kurdish: koronaya dirêj — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Macedonian: постко́виден си́ндром (postkóviden síndrom) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Macedonian: постко́виден синдро́м (postkóviden sindróm) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Norwegian Bokmål: senfølger av COVID-19 — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Polish: długi COVID — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Portuguese: COVID-19 persistente — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Russian: постковидный синдром (postkovidnyj sindrom) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Slovene: dolgi covid — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Slovene: dolgotrajni covid — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Spanish: COVID-19 persistente — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Swedish: postcovid — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Turkish: uzun COVID — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Ukrainian: постковідний синдром (postkovidnyj syndrom) — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection
  • Welsh: COVID hir — long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection