smallpox

IPA/ˈsmɔːlpɒks/
KK[smˈɔlpˌɑks]IPA/ˈsmɔːlpɑːks/

smallpox — noun

1. a serious infectious disease caused by a virus, which makes the body develop a h

1.nounB2
Definition

a serious infectious disease caused by a virus, which makes the body develop a high temperature and painful blisters filled with liquid on the skin. It was the first and only human disease ever completely eliminated across the world through a global vaccination programme.

Example

Before 1980, millions of people died from smallpox every year across the world.

contract + smallpox for catching the disease

The World Health Organization launched a worldwide vaccination drive to wipe out smallpox forever.

vaccination campaign against + smallpox

Common collocations
  • contract smallpox
  • smallpox outbreak
  • smallpox vaccine
  • smallpox virus
  • smallpox scar
  • eradicate smallpox
  • global smallpox eradication
Synonyms
  • variola

    The medical or scientific name for the smallpox virus; used mainly in clinical or laboratory settings, not in everyday speech.

Grammar Patterns

contract + smallpox

vaccinate against + smallpox

Usage Note

Almost always used as an uncountable noun without an article: 'He caught smallpox', not 'a smallpox'. Frequently appears in historical or medical contexts, because the disease no longer exists in the general population.

Common Mistakes

She got a smallpox when she was a child.
She got smallpox when she was a child.
smallpox is an uncountable noun and does not take an article.
Smallpox and chickenpox are the same illness.
Smallpox and chickenpox are different diseases.
smallpox is a far more severe illness than chickenpox (水痘); the two are caused by different viruses.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Smallpox (天花) refers specifically to the deadly disease caused by the variola virus, which was eradicated globally by 1980. Chickenpox (水痘) is a much milder illness common in children, caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Measles (麻疹) is another serious viral disease with a skin rash, but it still circulates in many countries despite available vaccines. Variola is the scientific name for the smallpox virus itself — you would encounter it in medical textbooks or lab reports rather than in everyday conversation. So while a doctor might say 'the patient has a fever and a rash', they would distinguish smallpox from the rest by its severity, the specific appearance of the blisters, and the historical fact of eradication.

smallpox ↗chickenpoxmeaslesvariola ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • smallpox vaccine
  • smallpox virus
  • smallpox outbreak
  • smallpox eradication
  • smallpox case
  • smallpox patient
  • smallpox blister
  • smallpox scar

Phrases

  • smallpox vaccination campaign
  • global smallpox eradication programme
  • smallpox containment measures

Prepositions

  • against smallpox
  • from smallpox
  • of smallpox

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'smallpox' comes from 'small' (meaning little) + 'pox' (from Old English 'pocc', meaning a pustule or blister on the skin). The name was chosen in the 1500s to distinguish the disease from 'great pox', which was the name for syphilis at that time — smallpox produced smaller skin sores by comparison.