Standard Lemma guide

poliomyelitis

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: pŏ'lĭōmīəlīʹtĭs
  • Received-Pronunciation: pō'lĭōmīəlīʹtĭs
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌpɒlɪəʊmaɪəˈlaɪtɪs/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpəʊlɪəʊmaɪəˈlaɪtɪs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Acute infection by the poliovirus, especially of the motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis and sometimes deformity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: infantile paralysis, polio

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: polio, infantile paralysis, acute anterior poliomyelitis

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: infectious disease

History

Etymology

Borrowed from German Poliomyelitis, from the Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós, “grey”) + μυελός (muelós, “marrow”) + -ῖτις (-îtis, “-itis”). Compare French poliomyélite.

Across languages

Translations

63 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: شَلَل الْأَطْفَال (šalal al-ʔaṭfāl) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Armenian: պոլիոմիելիտ (poliomielit) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Bulgarian: детски паралич (detski paralič) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Catalan: poliomielitis — infection by the poliovirus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小兒麻痺 /小儿麻痹 (xiǎo'ér mábì) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 脊髓灰質炎 /脊髓灰质炎 (jǐsuǐ huīzhìyán) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Czech: dětská obrna — infection by the poliovirus
  • Czech: poliomyelitida — infection by the poliovirus
  • Danish: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Danish: børnelammelse — infection by the poliovirus
  • Dutch: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Dutch: kinderverlamming — infection by the poliovirus
  • Dutch: poliomyelitis — infection by the poliovirus
  • Esperanto: poliomjelito — infection by the poliovirus
  • Faroese: barnalamningur — infection by the poliovirus
  • Finnish: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Finnish: lapsihalvaus — infection by the poliovirus
  • Finnish: poliomyeliitti — infection by the poliovirus
  • French: poliomyélite — infection by the poliovirus
  • French: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • German: Kinderlähmung — infection by the poliovirus
  • German: Poliomyelitis — infection by the poliovirus
  • Hawaiian: poliō — infection by the poliovirus
  • Hindi: पोलियो (poliyo) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Hungarian: gyermekbénulás — infection by the poliovirus
  • Icelandic: mænusótt — infection by the poliovirus
  • Irish: polaimiailíteas — infection by the poliovirus
  • Italian: poliomielite — infection by the poliovirus
  • Italian: leucomielite — infection by the poliovirus
  • Japanese: 急性灰白髄炎 (kyūsei kaihaku zuien) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Japanese: ポリオ (porio) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Kazakh: полиомиелит (poliomielit) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Korean: 소아마비 (soamabi) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Korean: 폴리오 (pollio) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Manx: anlheiltys lhiannooagh — infection by the poliovirus
  • Manx: neulheiltys lhiannooagh — infection by the poliovirus
  • Manx: neulheiltys oikanagh — infection by the poliovirus
  • Māori: mate whakarori tamariki — infection by the poliovirus
  • Māori: mate whakamemeke — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Bokmål: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Bokmål: poliomyelitt — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Bokmål: barnelammelse — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: poliomyelitt — infection by the poliovirus
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: barnelamming — infection by the poliovirus
  • Persian: فلج اطفال (falaj-e atfâl) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Persian: پولیو (polio) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Polish: choroba Heinego-Medina — infection by the poliovirus
  • Polish: heinemedina — infection by the poliovirus
  • Polish: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Polish: porażenie dziecięce — infection by the poliovirus
  • Portuguese: poliomielite — infection by the poliovirus
  • Romanian: poliomielită — infection by the poliovirus
  • Russian: полиомиели́т (poliomijelít) — infection by the poliovirus
  • Slovak: detská obrna — infection by the poliovirus
  • Spanish: poliomielitis — infection by the poliovirus
  • Swahili: ugonjwa wa kupooza — infection by the poliovirus
  • Swedish: polio — infection by the poliovirus
  • Swedish: poliomyelit — infection by the poliovirus
  • Swedish: barnförlamning — infection by the poliovirus
  • Tagalog: polyo — infection by the poliovirus
  • Turkish: çocuk felci — infection by the poliovirus
  • Turkish: poliomyelit — infection by the poliovirus