tuberculosis

English

Etymology

To international scientific vocabulary from New Latin tūberculōsis, from Latin tūberculum (diminutive of tūber (“lump”)) +‎ Latin -ōsis (“diseased condition”); named for the encapsulated colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within the lungs in pulmonary tuberculosis, which can look like small tubers (tubercles) on gross pathology. The disease has existed throughout human experience and had other names for millennia before scientific medicine renamed it with a New Latin term in the mid-19th century (1840s); in English it was called consumption because of the wasting away that consumed health and seemed even to consume flesh in some cases (for example, causing fistulas and tissue breakdown).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tjuːˌbɜː(ɹ)kjʊˈləʊsɪs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tuˌbɚkjʊˈloʊsɪs/
• Rhymes: -əʊsɪs

Noun

tuberculosis (countable and uncountable, plural tuberculoses)

2. (pathology) An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis, mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria. [from 1839]
   • 2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 380:

     With smallpox gone, tuberculosis is today the deadliest infectious disease on the planet.

Synonyms

• consumption
• phthisic
• TB (abbreviation)
• white death
• white man's plague
• white plague

 

Derived terms

• antituberculosis
• epituberculosis
• MDR-TB
• miliary tuberculosis
• neurotuberculosis
• nontuberculosis
• paratuberculosis
• pseudotuberculosis
• pulmonary tuberculosis
• silicotuberculosis
• tuberculostatic
• tuberculotic
• XDR-TB

 

Related terms

• DR-TB
• DS-TB
• MDR-TB
• Mtb
• XDR-TB

 

Translations

infectious disease

• Albanian: ndishk (sq) m
• Arabic: سُلّ (ar) m (sull)

  Egyptian Arabic: سل m (sill)

• Armenian: թոքախտ (tʻokʻaxt), տուբերկուլյոզ (hy) (tuberkulyoz), պալարախտ (hy) (palaraxt)
• Asturian: tuberculosis f
• Azerbaijani: vərəm
• Belarusian: сухо́ты f pl (suxóty), туберкулёз m (tubjerkuljóz)
• Bulgarian: туберкуло́за f (tuberkulóza)
• Catalan: tuberculosi (ca) f
• Cebuano: tuberkulosis, itika
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⵓⵔⵉⵏ (turin)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎬᎲᎣᎵᏗ (ugvhvolidi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 肺癆 / 肺痨 (fai³ lou⁴)

  Mandarin: 結核 / 结核 (zh) (jiéhé), 肺結核 / 肺结核 (zh) (fèijiéhé), 結核病 / 结核病 (zh) (jiéhébìng)

• Cornish: pla gwynn m
• Czech: tuberkulóza (cs) f, souchotiny (cs) f pl, úbytě (cs) f pl
• Danish: tuberkulose c
• Dutch: tuberculose (nl), tering (nl), tbc (nl)
• Esperanto: tuberkulozo (eo)
• Faroese: tuberklar m pl, tuberklasjúka f, bróstsjúka f
• Finnish: tuberkuloosi (fi), keuhkotuberkuloosi
• French: tuberculose (fr) f
• Galician: tuberculose (gl) f
• German: Tuberkulose (de) f
• Greek: φυματίωση (el) f (fymatíosi)
• Gujarati: ક્ષયરોગ m (kṣayarog), ઘાસણી f (ghāsṇī), યક્ષ્મા m (yakṣmā), ક્ષય (gu) m (kṣaya)
• Hebrew: שחפת (he) f (shakhéfet)
• Hindi: यक्ष्मा (hi) m (yakṣmā), क्षयी (hi) f (kṣayī), तपेदिक (hi) m (tapedik), तपेदिक़ m (tapediq), काली खाँसी f (kālī khā̃sī)
• Hungarian: tuberkulózis (hu)
• Icelandic: berklar (is) m pl
• Ilocano: sarut, daig
• Indonesian: tuberkulosis (id)
• Interlingua: tuberculose, tuberculosis
• Irish: créachta f, an eitinn f
• Italian: tubercolosi (it) f
• Japanese: 結核 (ja) (けっかく, kekkaku)
• Kalmyk: садв (sadv)
• Kannada: ಕ್ಷಯ (kn) (kṣaya)
• Kashubian: sëchòtë f pl, płëcnô żaba f (regional)
• Kazakh: туберкулёз (tuberkulez)
• Khmer: របេង (km) (rɔbeeng)
• Korean: 결핵 (ko) (gyeolhaek)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەردەباریکە (derdebarîke), بِنێس (binês), سیل (sîl)

  Northern Kurdish: êşa zirav (ku) f, êşa zirav (ku), jana zirav (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: دەردەباریکە (derdebarîke), باریکی (ku) (barîkî), سڵ (sill)

• Latin: phthisis f, (New Latin) tūberculōsis f
• Lithuanian: tuberkuliozė f, džiova f
• Macedonian: туберкулоза f (tuberkuloza)
• Malay: batuk kering (ms), tuberkulosis
• Malayalam: ക്ഷയം (ml) (kṣayaṁ)
• Maori: mate kohi
• Mokilese: limengmeng
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сүръеэ (sürʺjee)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠦᠷᠢᠶ᠎ᠡ (süriy-e)

• Navajo: jéíʼádįįh
• Nepali: क्षयरोग (ne) (kṣayarog)
• Newar: गंल्वय् (gaṃlwaê)
• Norman: conseunmtion f
• Occitan: tuberculòsi (oc) f
• Ottoman Turkish: ورم (verem)
• Palauan: haibio
• Persian: سل (fa) (sell), تب دق sg (tab-e deq), رنج باریک sg (ranj-e bārīk) (archaic), تب لازم sg (tab-e lāzem), تب استخوانی sg (tab-e ostoxānī)
• Piedmontese: tubercolòsi f
• Plautdietsch: Schwindsucht f
• Polish: gruźlica (pl) f, tuberkuloza (pl) f, suchoty (pl) pl
• Portuguese: tuberculose (pt) f
• Romanian: tuberculoză (ro) f
• Russian: туберкулёз (ru) m (tuberkuljóz), чахо́тка (ru) f (čaxótka) (dated)
• Samogitian: džiuova f
• Sanskrit: क्षयरोग (sa) (kṣayaroga), यक्ष्मा (sa) (yakṣmā)
• Santali: ᱥᱟᱦᱟᱸᱥ (sahãs)
• Scottish Gaelic: a' chaitheamh f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: туберкулоза f, грудобоља f, сушица f

  Roman: tuberkuloza (sh) f, grudobolja (sh) f, sušica (sh) f, jektika (sh) f

• Slovak: tuberkulóza (sk) f, suchoty (sk) f pl, ftíza f
• Slovene: jetika (sl) f, tuberkuloza (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tuberkuloza f

  Upper Sorbian: tuberkuloza f

• Spanish: tuberculosis (es) f
• Swahili: kifua kikuu
• Swedish: tuberkulos (sv)
• Tagalog: tuberkulosis, sigam, pagkatuyo, tuyo
• Telugu: క్షయ (te) (kṣaya)
• Thai: วัณโรค (th) (wan-ná-rôok)
• Tibetan: གློ་ནད (glo nad)
• Tocharian B: kṣai
• Turkish: tüberküloz (tr), verem (tr)
• Ukrainian: туберкульо́з (uk) m (tuberkulʹóz)
• Urdu: یکشما (yakṣmā)
• Vietnamese: bệnh lao
• Volapük: ftisid (vo)
• Welsh: twbercwlosis m, diciâu m
• Yiddish: טובערקולאָז m (tuberkuloz), סוכאָטע f (sukhote), דער f (der)

See also

• Burkholderia gladioli

Asturian

Noun

tuberculosis f (uncountable)

1. (pathology) tuberculosis (infectious disease)

Interlingua

Noun

tuberculosis (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of tuberculose.

Latin

Etymology 1

tūberculum +‎ -ōsis

Noun

tūberculōsis f (genitive tūberculōsis); third declension

1. (New Latin, pathology) tuberculosis

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	tūberculōsis	tūberculōsēs
genitive	tūberculōseos tūberculōsis	tūberculōseōn
dative	tūberculōsi	tūberculōsesin tūberculōsibus
accusative	tūberculōsin tūberculōsim	tūberculōseis
ablative	tūberculōsi	tūberculōsesin tūberculōsibus
vocative	tūberculōsis	tūberculōsēs

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

tūberculōsīs

1. dative/ablative masculine/feminine/neuter plural of tūberculōsus

Spanish

Etymology

From Scientific Latin tuberculosis, from tubercŭlum (“tiny tumor”) and +‎ -osis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tubeɾkuˈlosis/ [t̪u.β̞eɾ.kuˈlo.sis]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -osis
• Syllabification: tu‧ber‧cu‧lo‧sis

Noun

tuberculosis f (plural tuberculosis)

1. tuberculosis

Derived terms

• tuberculostático

 

Further reading

• “tuberculosis”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10