Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1700-1800
Language: Modern Latin
Origin: Syphilus, main character in the 16th-century poem Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus 'Syphilis or the French disease' by Girolamo Fracastoro

syphilis

 noun
     
Related topics: Illness and Disability
syph‧i‧lis [uncountable]
MI a very serious disease that is passed from one person to another during sexual activity
—syphilitic adjective
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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