malaria

B2 Topic:Health & Medicine

US /məˈlɛəɹi.ə/ See IPA manual

Freq #13800

Meanings

1

noun
A serious disease spread by mosquito bites that causes fever and chills.

Travellers to tropical regions often take tablets to protect against malaria.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a serious disease spread by... ague

Word family

Forms malariasmalarious

Derived forms antimalariaantimalarialmalarialmalariametricmalarigenousmalarinmalarioidmalariologistmalariologymalariousnonmalaria

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

malaria parasite
a Plasmodium organism that causes malaria

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Malaria comes from Italian mal’aria, a contraction of mala aria ‘bad air’. The name reflects the former belief that the disease arose from unhealthy air in marshy districts; it is recorded in English by 1740.

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”).

malaria Italian

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# malaria

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /məˈlɛəɹi.ə/
**Frequency rank:** 13800

## Meanings
1. A serious disease spread by mosquito bites that causes fever and chills.

## Examples
- Travellers to tropical regions often take tablets to protect against malaria.

## Derived Forms
- antimalaria
- antimalarial
- malarial
- malariametric
- malarigenous
- malarin
- malarioid
- malariologist
- malariology
- malarious
- nonmalaria

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: malaria

## 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”).

## AI Etymology
Malaria was 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”). In present-day English it covers a serious disease spread by mosquito bites that causes fever and chills. Related and derived forms include antimalaria, antimalarial, and malarial.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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