Dengues

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes, resulting in fever, severe headache, and joint or muscle pain
2. The illness caused by dengue virus, often associated with high fever and a range of flu-like symptoms
3. A communicable disease marked by symptoms such as severe headaches and joint aches, commonly spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes

Etymology: The word "dengues" is simply the plural of "dengue," so the story belongs to that noun. Its surprising path runs from East Africa to the Caribbean. It was borrowed into West Indian Spanish around 1828 from a Kiswahili term, "dinga," which in full was "kidingapopo" or "kidinga pepo," describing a sudden cramp-like seizure believed to be caused by an evil spirit. The Spanish form then shifted in an unexpected way. Spanish already had "dengue" meaning fastidiousness, a fussy, affected manner. The disease's victims often moved stiffly and reluctantly, and that association, combined with the existing Spanish word, helped reshape the term. For much of the early twentieth century, "dengue" was also applied to chikungunya, a different mosquito-borne illness whose sufferers were similarly stiff and hesitant in their movements.

Synonyms: dengue fevers, breakbone fevers