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typhus

noun

Simple meaning

Any of several similar diseases, characterised by high recurrent fever, caused by Rickettsia bacteria.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tyfuhs

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtaɪfəs

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. pathology

    Any of several similar diseases, characterised by high recurrent fever, caused by Rickettsia bacteria. Not to be confused with typhoid fever.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: (pathology) Any of several similar diseases, characterised by high recurrent fever, caused by Rickettsia bacteria. Not to be confused with typhoid fever.

Used this way, typhus is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

typhus feverscrub typhusepidemic typhusmurine typhusendemic typhustyphus vaccinetick typhustyphus group

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • typhus fevernounCompound term

    Rickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fever.

  • murine typhusnounCompound term

    Acute infection caused by rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected flea.

  • rat typhusnounCompound term

    Acute infection caused by rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected flea.

  • endemic typhusnounCompound term

    Acute infection caused by rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected flea.

  • urban typhusnounCompound term

    Acute infection caused by rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected flea.

  • scrub typhusnounCompound term

    Transmitted by larval mites and widespread in Asia.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: any of several similar diseases

typhus fever

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.