variola

IPA/vəˈraɪ.ə.lə/
IPA/vəˈraɪ.ə.lə/

variola — noun

1. a now-eradicated disease that spread easily and caused high fever, pus-filled sp

1.nounC2
Definition

a now-eradicated disease that spread easily and caused high fever, pus-filled spots, and often lasting scars or death

Example

Doctors once feared variola when a child with fever developed spots.

medical context: diagnose variola from fever and spots

Before vaccination, variola killed many people in crowded port cities.

historical use: variola as disease subject

Common collocations
  • contract variola
  • variola outbreak
  • die of variola
  • a case of variola
  • variola scars
Synonyms
  • smallpox

    the usual everyday and historical name for the same disease

  • pox

    historical and less precise; it can refer to other diseases in some contexts

Grammar Patterns

contract variola

die of variola

a case of variola

Usage Note

Mainly used in medical or historical writing; most everyday English uses smallpox instead. Treat it as uncountable when naming the disease, and use a phrase such as a case of variola or a variola outbreak for one event.

Common Mistakes

The village had a variola last winter.
The village had a variola outbreak last winter.
variola names the disease itself, so use 'outbreak' or 'case' for a specific event.

Word family

  • variolar
    adjectiveC2
  • variolation
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Variola is the formal medical name for the disease most general readers call smallpox, so outside specialist writing, smallpox is usually the more natural choice. It should not be confused with chickenpox, which is caused by a different virus and is usually much milder, especially in children. Mpox is another separate disease in the same broad virus family, but its symptoms and pattern of spread differ from those of variola. Cowpox is chiefly an animal disease and now appears mainly in discussions of vaccine history. For example, a medical history text may say 'variola was eradicated in 1980', while a general history book would more likely say 'smallpox once killed millions before vaccination'.

variola ↗smallpox ↗chickenpoxmpoxcowpox ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • contract variola
  • die of variola
  • a case of variola
  • variola outbreak

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Variola comes from Medieval Latin variola, a word used for pustules and later for smallpox. It is usually linked to the older Latin word varius, meaning 'spotted' or 'marked in different colours', which fits the disease's visible rash. English kept the Latin form mainly as a formal scientific and historical name.

First known use

1543

1543, in the meaning defined above