Meanings
nounwater pox (uncountable)
- dateduncountablemedicineA common childhood disease caused by virus; chickenpox, varicella.
Water pox. Varicella.
1801, Philipp Andreas Nemnich, Lexicon Nosologicum Polygloton1 more example
Varicella (water-pox, stone-pox, wind-pox,) is said to be often epidemic at the period of the public vaccinations...
1839, “Heim on small-pox and vaccination in the Kingdom of Wirtemberg”, in British and Foreign Medical Review, volume 7
Origin
Compound of water + pox. Attested from the nineteenth century.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans waterpokkies
- waterpokkiesA common childhood disease caused by virus
Chinese 水痘
- 水痘 (shuǐdòu)A common childhood disease caused by virus
Danish vandkopper
- vandkopperA common childhood disease caused by virus
Dutch waterpokken
- waterpokkenA common childhood disease caused by virus
German Windpocken, Wasserpocken
- WindpockenA common childhood disease caused by virus
- WasserpockenA common childhood disease caused by virus
Japanese 水疱瘡, 水痘
- 水疱瘡 (mizubōsō)A common childhood disease caused by virus
- 水痘 (suidō)A common childhood disease caused by virus
Norwegian Bokmål vannkopper
- vannkopperA common childhood disease caused by virus
Swedish vattkoppor
- vattkopporA common childhood disease caused by virus
Cite this entry
APA
water pox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20pox
MLA
“water pox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20pox. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “water pox,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20pox.
Source: water pox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.