malaria means A disease spread by mosquito, in which a protozoan, Plasmodium, multiplies in blood every few days. It carries an Arena rating of 1607, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, malaria ranks #279 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #378 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,251 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,843 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
malaria is pronounced /məˈlɛəɹi.ə/.
Why “malaria” is a great word
A serious infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, transmitted by the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. From the Italian malaria, from mal- ("bad") and aria ("air"), reflecting the former belief that the disease was caused by foul air from marshes; introduced into English in the early 18th century. Unlike "dengue," a viral assault marked by acute joint pain and rash, or "ague," the archaic and imprecise shivering fever, malaria names a precise parasitic horror with its own relentless calendar. It is the bone-racking chill that arrives like a debt collector every forty-eight hours, the sallow complexion of a child in a clinic bed, and the particular density of humid air itself become suspect—an entire landscape poisoned by misapprehension, the swamp's exhalation wrongly condemned while the real assassin drew blood in silence.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian malaria, formed from mal- (“bad”) and aria (“air”). Introduced into English by the Scottish geologist John MacCulloch (1773–1835). Displaced native Old English unlyft (literally “bad air”).
noun
- A disease spread by mosquito, in which a protozoan, Plasmodium, multiplies in blood every few days.
- Supposed poisonous air arising from marshy districts, once thought to cause fever.e.g.“The doctor had his hands full, as the air was so impregnated with malaria that men who had only landed some twenty-four hours were laid low with this extraordinarily violent type of fever.” — 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 149:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- anopheles 64% match — A mosquito of the genus Anopheles, some insects of which transmit various parasites of the genus Plasmodium that are the cause of malaria. vs malaria →
- malarious 61% match — With malaria; where people may catch malaria. vs malaria →
- babesiosis 57% match — Any of several malaria-like parasitic diseases in humans and other animals caused by Babesia, a genus of protozoa. vs malaria →
- malarigenous 56% match — Suitable for the spreading of malaria. vs malaria →
- impaludism 56% match — A diseased state affecting the inhabitants of paludal, marshy areas. vs malaria →
- malariologist 54% match — Someone who studies malaria. vs malaria →
- dengue 53% match — An acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain. vs malaria →
- plasmodium 52% match — A mass of cytoplasm, containing many nuclei, created by the aggregation of amoeboid cells of slime molds during their vegetative phase. vs malaria →