malaria

Definitions

mal- (bad) + Italian aria (air) = 'bad air.' Before mosquitoes were known to carry the disease, people blamed the foul, swampy night air. The cause was wrong, but the name stuck.

Why It Means This

Malaria is a linguistic fossil. The word records a medical theory that turned out to be false — that 'bad air' from marshland caused the fevers. We now know it's transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, but the old swamp-air idea is permanently embedded in the name.

Common Collocations

• 1.malaria prevention疟疾预防
• 2.malaria treatment疟疾治疗
• 3.malaria parasite疟原虫
• 4.contract malaria感染疟疾

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Travelers to the tropics often take pills to prevent malaria.

• 2.

  Malaria still kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.

• 3.

  The drug targets the malaria parasite in the bloodstream.