Standard Lemma guide

pleurisy

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.

  • /ˈplʊəɹɪsi/
  • /ˈpljʊəɹɪsi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P L UH1 R AH0 S IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Inflammation of lung pleura.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

Examples

  • 1829 September, Richard N. Allen, An Essay on Pneumonia Biliosa, Horatio Gates Jameson (editor), The Maryland Medical Recorder, Volume 1, Number 1, page 591, The division of pleurisies now sanctioned by the general language of medical men, is that which arranges them as inflammatory,* bilious and typhoid.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

inflammation of the pleura of the lungs (especially the parietal layer)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inflammatory disease

Narrower terms: purulent pleurisy, pleuropneumonia

History

Etymology

From Middle English pleuresi, pleresye, that borrowed from Old French pleuresie (French pleurésie), from Late Latin pleurisis, alteration of Latin pleuritis. By surface analysis, pleur- + -isy.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: плеврит (plevrit) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Catalan: pleuritis — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Chinese Mandarin: 胸膜炎 (xiōngmóyán) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Czech: zánět pohrudnice — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Dutch: pleuris — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Finnish: keuhkopussintulehdus — inflammation of lung pleura
  • French: pleurésie — inflammation of lung pleura
  • German: Brustfellentzündung — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Greek: πλευρίτιδα (plevrítida) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Italian: pleurite — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Japanese: 胸膜炎 (kyōmakuen) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Kazakh: плеврит (plevrit) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Māori: mate kiriuhi pūkahu kakā — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Māori: kiriuhi pūkahu kakā — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Mongolian: уушгины гялтангийн үрэвсэл (uušginy gjaltangiin ürevsel) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Mongolian: цээжийн хальсан үрэвсэл (ceežiin xalʹsan ürevsel) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Norman: plieurêsie — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Norwegian: pleuritt — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Portuguese: pleurisia — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Portuguese: pleurite — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Russian: плеври́т (plevrít) — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Spanish: pleuresía — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Swedish: lungsäcksinflammation — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Swedish: pleurit — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Turkish: zatülcenp — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Volapük: plöraflamat — inflammation of lung pleura
  • Walloon: plurizeye — inflammation of lung pleura