Meanings
- historicalmedicineA pandemic outbreak of bubonic plague throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia.
Following the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century, and the weakening of Mongol rule, the closing of overland routes between Europe and Asia once again created a bottleneck that flowed through the Middle East, trade flows that were largely controlled by Venice and Egypt.
2013, Al Gore, “Earth Inc.”, in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 18Synonyms: the plague, the bubonic plague, the Black Plague
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA pandemic outbreak of bubonic plague throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Swedishswarta dödhen
- Danishden sorte død
- EnglishBlack Death
Calque of Danish den sorte død (literally “the black death”), sortedød (“black death”), since 1755, from Old Danish. The collocation as such is attested early on, but the specific use is believed to have originated in Scandinavia and is first attested in Swedish swarta dödhen (1540), svarthe döden (1555); Modern Swedish svarta döden; compare Norwegian svartedauden, svartedauen.
More words from Danish, Swedish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic الطّاعُونُ, مَوْت أَسْوَد
- الطّاعُونُ (aṭ-ṭāʕūnu)14th century pandemic outbreak
- مَوْت أَسْوَد (mawt ʔaswad)14th century pandemic outbreak
Bulgarian черна смърт
- черна смърт (černa smărt)14th century pandemic outbreak
Catalan pesta negra
- pesta negra14th century pandemic outbreak
Chinese Mandarin 黑死病
- 黑死病 (hēisǐbìng)14th century pandemic outbreak
Danish den sorte død, sortedød
- den sorte død14th century pandemic outbreak
- sortedød14th century pandemic outbreak
- den dyre død14th century pandemic outbreak
Dutch zwarte dood
- zwarte dood14th century pandemic outbreak
Esperanto nigra morto
- nigra morto14th century pandemic outbreak
Estonian must surm
- must surm14th century pandemic outbreak
Finnish musta surma
- musta surma14th century pandemic outbreak
French peste noire
- peste noire14th century pandemic outbreak
German Beulenpest, schwarzer Tod
- Beulenpest14th century pandemic outbreak
- schwarzer Tod14th century pandemic outbreak
Greek Μαύρη Πανώλη
- Μαύρη Πανώλη (Mávri Panóli)14th century pandemic outbreak
Hebrew המוות השחור
- המוות השחור14th century pandemic outbreak
Hungarian fekete halál
- fekete halál14th century pandemic outbreak
Icelandic svarti dauði
- svarti dauði14th century pandemic outbreak
Indonesian Kematian Hitam
- Kematian Hitam14th century pandemic outbreak
Italian peste nera
- peste nera14th century pandemic outbreak
Japanese 黒死病
- 黒死病 (kokushibyō)14th century pandemic outbreak
Korean 흑사병
- 흑사병 (heuksabyeong)14th century pandemic outbreak
Latvian melnā nāve
- melnā nāve14th century pandemic outbreak
Lithuanian juodoji mirtis
- juodoji mirtis14th century pandemic outbreak
Norwegian Bokmål svartedauden
- svartedauden14th century pandemic outbreak
Norwegian Nynorsk svartedauden, svartedauen
- svartedauden14th century pandemic outbreak
- svartedauen14th century pandemic outbreak
Polish czarna śmierć
- czarna śmierć14th century pandemic outbreak
Portuguese peste negra
- peste negra14th century pandemic outbreak
Romanian moartea neagră, ciumă
- moartea neagră14th century pandemic outbreak
- ciumă14th century pandemic outbreak
- pestă14th century pandemic outbreak
Russian чёрная смерть, чёрный мор
- чёрная смерть (čórnaja smertʹ)14th century pandemic outbreak
- чёрный мор (čórnyj mor)14th century pandemic outbreak
Scottish Gaelic Bàs Dubh
- Bàs Dubh14th century pandemic outbreak
Slovak mor
- mor14th century pandemic outbreak
Spanish peste negra
- peste negra14th century pandemic outbreak
Swedish digerdöden, digredöden
- digerdöden14th century pandemic outbreak
- digredöden14th century pandemic outbreak
- stora döden14th century pandemic outbreak
- stordöden14th century pandemic outbreak
- svarta döden14th century pandemic outbreak
- svartedöden14th century pandemic outbreak
- pesten14th century pandemic outbreak
- böldpest14th century pandemic outbreak
Thai กาฬมรณะ
- กาฬมรณะ (gaa-lá-mɔɔ-rá-ná)14th century pandemic outbreak
Turkish kara ölüm
- kara ölüm14th century pandemic outbreak
Vietnamese Cái Chết Đen
- Cái Chết Đen14th century pandemic outbreak
Welsh pla du, haint y nodau
- pla du14th century pandemic outbreak
- haint y nodau14th century pandemic outbreak
Cite this entry
Black Death. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Black%20Death
“Black Death.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Black%20Death. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Black Death,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Black%20Death.
Source: Black Death on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.