Pox
/pɒks/noun
Any of several diseases that cause pustules or sores, especially smallpox.
Did you know?The word first appears in English in the 15th century as a term for a pustular disease, and it also survives in old curses like “a pox on you,” where the disease name was weaponized as a verbal hex.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*puhhō
“a swelling, pimple, or pustule”
Old English
OE
pocc
“a pimple, blister, or pustule”
Middle English
ME
pokkes / pox
“pustules; especially the lesions of a contagious disease”
15th Century
English
pox
“a pustular disease, especially smallpox”
Modern English
English
pox
“a disease causing pustules; also used in curses and figurative expressions”