scarlatina

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an older technical name for scarlet fever, an infectious disease marked by fever and a red rash

   The physician's nineteenth-century notes identified the child's illness as scarlatina.

From New Latin febris scarlatina, 'scarlet fever,' based on Medieval Latin scarlata, 'scarlet cloth or color.' The name refers to the disease's characteristic red rash; scarlatina is now chiefly historical or technical, with scarlet fever the usual term.

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