Meanings
plural dengues
- uncountableusuallyAn acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain.
Synonyms: breakbone fever, dandy fever, dengue fever
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterized by rash and aching head and joints
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Spanishdengue
- Englishdengue
From West Indian Spanish dengue in 1828, from the Kiswahili term dinga (in full kidingapopo or kidinga pepo, "a kind of sudden cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit", dinga itself meaning sudden cramp-like seizure). The borrowed term changed to dengue in Spanish due to this word existing in Spanish with the meaning "fastidiousness" and the folk etymology referring to the dislike of movement by affected patients of chikungunya which was also reffered to as dengue until the first half of the 20th century.
More words from Spanish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan dengue
- denguedisease
Chinese Mandarin 登革
- 登革 (dēnggé)disease
Dutch knokkelkoorts, dengue
- knokkelkoortsdisease
- denguedisease
Finnish denguekuume
- denguekuumedisease
French dengue
- denguedisease
German Denguefieber
- Denguefieberdisease
Greek δάγγειος πυρετός
- δάγγειος πυρετός (dángeios pyretós)disease
Hindi डंगू, डैंगू
- डंगू (ḍaṅgū)disease
- डैंगू (ḍaiṅgū)disease
- डैङ्गू (ḍaiṅgū)disease
- डैंगू फीवर (ḍaiṅgū phīvar)disease
- डंगूज्वर (ḍaṅgūjvar)disease
- डंगू ज्वर (ḍaṅgū jvar)disease
- लँगड़ा बुखार (laṅgṛā bukhār)disease
Indonesian demam berdarah
- demam berdarahdisease
Japanese デング熱, デンゲ熱
- デング熱 (dengu-netsu)disease
- デンゲ熱 (denge-netsu)disease
Malay denggi
- denggidisease
Polish denga
- dengadisease
Portuguese dengue
- denguedisease
Spanish dengue
- denguedisease
Swahili kidingapopo
- kidingapopodisease
Tagalog dengge
- denggedisease
Thai ไข้เด็งกี
- ไข้เด็งกี (kâi denggee)disease
Turkish dang humması
- dang hummasıdisease
Vietnamese sốt xuất huyết Dingue
- sốt xuất huyết Dinguedisease
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
dengue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dengue
“dengue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dengue. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dengue,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dengue.
Source: dengue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.