malaria
UK[məˈleəriə]US[məˈleriə]
n
A serious disease, common in hot countries, that causes periods of fever and shivering and is passed from one person to another by the bite of a particular type of mosquito.
Morpheme Breakdown
mal
aria
mal
bad
aria
air
Etymology
The word 'malaria' is a direct loan from 18th-century Italian, where it was formed from the phrase mala aria, literally meaning "bad air." This reflects the historical miasma theory, which incorrectly attributed the cause of the disease to foul or polluted air emanating from swamps. The term was adopted into medical English before the true cause—a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes—was discovered. Thus, the modern scientific meaning of the disease retains the original, now archaic, folk logic of its name.
Analysis
Structure: mal (bad) + aria (air)
'mal' is from Latin malus, meaning 'bad', and functions as a prefix indicating badness or negativity. 'aria' is from Italian aria, meaning 'air', and functions as the base noun.
Examples
He contracted malaria while working in the tropical region.
The distribution of mosquito nets is a key strategy in the fight against malaria.
Symptoms of malaria include high fever, chills, and sweating.