Plague
/pleɪɡ/noun
A contagious disease causing widespread illness and death, especially one that spreads rapidly through a population.
Did you know?The English word comes through Old French from Latin plaga, meaning a blow or wound, so the “plague” was originally imagined as a kind of terrible strike against a body or people.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pleh₂g-
“to strike, hit”
Latin
Latin
plaga
“a blow, stroke, wound”
Old French
Old French
plaie
“a wound, sore”
Middle English
English
plage
“a pestilence, calamity”
Modern English
English
plague
“a contagious disease or a disastrous affliction”