Fever
/ˈfiː.vər/noun
An abnormally high body temperature, usually caused by illness.
Did you know?In medieval medicine, fever was often treated as a sign of an inner imbalance of the humors, so the word carried both physical and symbolic force long before modern science.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dheh₁-
“to put, place, do”
Latin
Latin
febris
“fever, ague”
Old French
OFr
fevre
“fever”
Middle English
ME
fevre
“fever, ague”
Modern English
English
fever
“a state of abnormally high body temperature; intense excitement or agitation”