ague

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈeɪɡju/ UK /ˈeɪɡjuː/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a fever marked by recurring chills and shivering, often malarial

The traveler was laid low by a violent ague in the marshes.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a fever marked by recurring... fever malaria chills shivering

Word family

Forms aguish

Derived forms aguish

Related forms acute

Etymology

From Middle English ague, from Old French (fievre) ague ('acute fever'), from Latin (febris) acūta ('sharp fever'), feminine of acūtus ('sharp, pointed').

ague Old French acūta Latin *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# ague

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈeɪɡju/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈeɪɡjuː/

## Meanings
1. a fever marked by recurring chills and shivering, often malarial

## Examples
- The traveler was laid low by a violent ague in the marshes.

## Synonyms
- fever
- malaria
- chills
- shivering

## Derived Forms
- aguish

## Related Forms
- acute

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ague
- Root: acūta
- Root: *h₂eḱ-

## Etymology
From Middle English ague, from Old French (fievre) ague ('acute fever'), from Latin (febris) acūta ('sharp fever'), feminine of acūtus ('sharp, pointed').

## AI Etymology
ague comes from Middle English ague, from Old French (fievre) ague ('acute fever'), from Latin (febris) acūta ('sharp fever'), feminine of acūtus ('sharp, pointed'). The path is chiefly one of transmission: an older form is taken into English, with the word's shape and meaning carried through the language names and forms preserved in the history. In modern use, the noun sense is "a fever marked by recurring chills and shivering, often malarial", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as acute and derivatives such as aguish, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Old French ague, Latin acūta, Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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