Meanings
- datedeuphemisticSyphilis.
Although the Inquisition trials dealing with the French disease are few in number, the cases provide competing opinions about the cause of illness, thereby providing some insights into how the categories of natural and supernatural[…]
2010 November 30, L. McGough, Gender, Sexuality, and Syphilis in Early Modern Venice: The Disease that Came to Stay, Springer, →ISBN, page 88Synonyms: French pox, French gout
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSyphilis.
Origin
The full explanation of why syphilis was called the French disease as a calque across various languages involves a 1495 outbreak involving French soldiers (more in Wikipedia at History of syphilis); but it is also true that this term is one of several that blame othered ethnicities for distasteful and unseemly things.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish ranskantauti
- ranskantautisyphilis
French mal de Naples, mal italien
- mal de Naplessyphilis
- mal italiensyphilis
- gale de Naplessyphilis
German Franzosenkrankheit
- Franzosenkrankheitsyphilis
Korean 당옴
- 당옴 (dang'om)syphilis
Latin morbus gallicus
- morbus gallicussyphilis
Polish francuska choroba
- francuska chorobasyphilis
Spanish mal francés
- mal francéssyphilis
Cite this entry
French disease. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/French%20disease
“French disease.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/French%20disease. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “French disease,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/French%20disease.
Source: French disease on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.