Sheeppox

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A contagious viral infection affecting sheep, characterized by pustular skin lesions and systemic illness
2. An infectious disease caused by a poxvirus that attacks sheep, producing scabs and sores on the skin
3. A viral ailment in sheep marked by the eruption of pustules and overall body inflammation

Etymology: Sheeppox is about as transparent as English compounds get: a sheep, and a pox. The "pox" element is an old English word for a pustular skin disease, and it was used in many compound names, such as smallpox and chickenpox, so "sheeppox" follows an established pattern. Sheep were the animals named, and the disease is a viral infection that produces raised lesions on the skin, which is why the name describes the visible symptoms. The word itself is simply a combination of two existing English words, with no borrowed or altered parts. Its meaning stays literal from start to finish: the pox that affects sheep. Few etymologies are this direct, so the most useful point is that the name reflects the disease's visible effect on its host rather than any earlier, different sense.