Standard Lemma guide

scrofula

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: /ˈskɹɒfjʊlə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈskɹɔfjələ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of tuberculosis, most common in women 30-40 years of age, tending to cause enlarged and degenerated lymph nodes, especially in the neck, and often chronic, intractable skin inflammation as well.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

Examples

  • 1970: R.H.C. Davis A History of Medieval Europe Longman: SBN 582482089. P298. "(In 1100) It (The Church) relied on the king (of France) for protection and in return gave him authority. It even ..gave support for the claim that by his royal touch, he could miraculously cure the scrofula. (A similar claim was made for the kings of England, and was exercised till the reign of Queen Anne; one of the last people to be cured in that way being Dr. Johnson.)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: scrofulosis, king's evil, struma

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: adenopathy, lymphadenopathy

2

noun

Meaning 2

a form of tuberculosis characterized by swellings of the lymphatic glands

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: struma, king's evil

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tuberculosis, TB, T.B.

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scrōfulae, a diminutive form of scrōfa (“breeding sow”), because swine were supposed to be subject to the complaint; or by fanciful comparison of the glandular swellings to little pigs.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: живеница (živenica) — form of tuberculosis
  • Bulgarian: скрофула (skrofula) — form of tuberculosis
  • Burmese: ကျပ် (kyap) — form of tuberculosis
  • Catalan: botornons — form of tuberculosis
  • Catalan: escròfula — form of tuberculosis
  • Chinese Mandarin: 瘰癧 /瘰疬 (luǒlì) — form of tuberculosis
  • Dutch: scrofulose — form of tuberculosis
  • Finnish: risatauti — form of tuberculosis
  • French: écrouelles — form of tuberculosis
  • French: scrofule — form of tuberculosis
  • Galician: escrófula — form of tuberculosis
  • German: Skrofeln — form of tuberculosis
  • German: Skrofulose — form of tuberculosis
  • Icelandic: eitlakröm — form of tuberculosis
  • Irish: easpa bhrád — form of tuberculosis
  • Irish: gad brád — form of tuberculosis
  • Italian: scrofola — form of tuberculosis
  • Japanese: 瘰癧 (ruireki) — form of tuberculosis
  • Latin: scrofula — form of tuberculosis
  • Macedonian: скрофуло́за (skrofulóza) — form of tuberculosis
  • Māori: hore — form of tuberculosis
  • Mongolian: булаг өвчин (bulag övčin) — form of tuberculosis
  • Portuguese: escrófula — form of tuberculosis
  • Russian: золоту́ха (zolotúxa) — form of tuberculosis
  • Spanish: escrófula — form of tuberculosis
  • Swahili: mlezi — form of tuberculosis
  • Turkish: sıraca — form of tuberculosis
  • Ottoman Turkish: صراجه (sıraca) — form of tuberculosis
  • Ottoman Turkish: اور (ur) — form of tuberculosis