bubo

American  

[byoo-boh, boo-] / ˈbju boʊ, ˈbu- /

noun

Pathology.

• buboes
  plural

1. an inflammatory swelling of a lymphatic gland, especially in the groin or armpit.

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bubo British  

/ ˈbjuːbəʊ /

noun

1. pathol inflammation and swelling of a lymph node, often with the formation of pus, esp in the region of the armpit or groin

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bubo Scientific  

/ bo̅o̅′bō /

• buboes
  plural

1. A swelling of a lymph node, especially of the armpit or groin, that is characteristic of bubonic plague.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• buboed
  adjective
• bubonic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• buboes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bubo

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin < Greek boubṓn literally, groin

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bubo buboes

He was far from his natural home: Eurasian eagle-owls, known by the scientific name Bubo bubo, are apex predators typically found in much of continental Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and Central Asia.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2024

It was lodged under my armpit like a bubo.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2018

It is not white, but neither is the grand duc, the European bubo.

From Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson

Strix bubo, the only but very common owl of the up-country, and one Otus of the low plain, are treated as birds of ill-omen.

From The Highlands of Ethiopia by William Cornwallis Harris

To-day it is understood as designating exclusively the specific affection defined above, the bubo plague.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

Bubonic plague is the most common type of plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, characterised by swollen lymph nodes called "buboes".

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025

More than 80% of plague cases in the U.S. have been in the bubonic form, from which patients will develop swollen, painful lymph nodes called buboes, according to the CDC.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2025

That gives Verhoeven the opportunity to spotlight the festering, boil-like buboes that are the disease’s signature symptom.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2021

If you think you might have been bitten by a plague-infected flea, you can take some of these drugs before any symptoms emerge, and that will stop the painful buboes appearing in the first place.

From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2020

If buboes accompany it, they are mostly of an indolent nature.

From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Franklin Bache

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