Meanings
plural typhuses
- uncountableusuallymedicineAny of several similar diseases, characterised by high recurrent fever, caused by Rickettsia bacteria. Not to be confused with typhoid fever.
Typhoid and typhus have similar names and symptoms, but are different diseases.
2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 377Synonyms: camp fever, gaol fever, hospital fever, jail fever, prison fever, putrid fever, ship fever
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of several similar diseases, characterised by high recurrent fever, caused by Rickettsia bacteria. Not to be confused with typhoid fever.
More synonyms by meaning
nounrickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fever
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰewbʰ-
- Ancient Greekτῦφος“fever, stupor”
- New Latintyphus
- Englishtyphus
From New Latin typhus, from Ancient Greek τῦφος (tûphos, “fever, stupor”), from τύφω (túphō, “to smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-, extended form of *dʰew- (“scatter like dust”).
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تِيفُوس, تِيفُوس
- تِيفُوس (tīfūs)disease
- تِيفُوس (tifus)disease
Catalan tifus
- tifusdisease
Chinese Mandarin 斑疹傷寒 /斑疹伤寒
- 斑疹傷寒 /斑疹伤寒 (bānzhěn shānghán)disease
Czech tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Danish tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Dutch tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Esperanto tifo
- tifodisease
Finnish pilkkukuume
- pilkkukuumedisease
French typhus
- typhusdisease
German Fleckfieber, Flecktyphus
- Fleckfieberdisease
- Flecktyphusdisease
Greek τύφος
- τύφος (týfos)disease
Hungarian tífusz, kiütéses tífusz
- tífuszdisease
- kiütéses tífuszdisease
- flekktífuszdisease
Icelandic flekkusótt
- flekkusóttdisease
Indonesian tifus
- tifusdisease
Italian tifo
- tifodisease
Japanese チフス
- チフス (chifusu)disease
Korean 티푸스
- 티푸스 (tipuseu)disease
Malay tifus
- tifusdisease
Māori karawaka
- karawakadisease
Norwegian Bokmål tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Polish tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Portuguese tifo
- tifodisease
Romanian tifos
- tifosdisease
Russian тиф, сыпно́й тиф
- тиф (tif)disease
- сыпно́й тиф (sypnój tif)disease
Scottish Gaelic am fiabhras-ballach
- am fiabhras-ballachdisease
Slovak týfus
- týfusdisease
Spanish tifus
- tifusdisease
Swedish tyfus
- tyfusdisease
Turkish tifüs
- tifüsdisease
Cite this entry
typhus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/typhus
“typhus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/typhus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “typhus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/typhus.
Source: typhus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.