Etymology
Origin of bubonic
Explanation
Anything bubonic has to do with inflamed lymph nodes. Symptoms of the bubonic plague include painful, hugely swollen nodes. We've got lymph nodes all over our body, including in the groin area — and the word bubonic derives from the Greek boubon, "groin." The word was commonly used for any swelling of the infection-fighting nodes until the 1820s, when it came to almost universally refer to the bubonic plague. Before antibiotics, this highly infectious disease killed up to 90 percent of those who were infected.
Vocabulary lists containing bubonic
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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Too Bright to See
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Struggle in Medieval Europe, Lessons 3–5
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bacterium Yersinia pestis, which can cause pneumonic and bubonic plague, has been identified from time to time in Siberia, linked to exposure to vermin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
That appears to have been possible even before the bacterium developed the efficient flea-based transmission associated with later bubonic plague.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
Welcome to the challenges of writing the history of the Black Death, the great pandemic of bubonic plague that ravaged the late medieval world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
There are different forms of plague, such as bubonic plague, which is the most common and is caused by the bite of an infected flea.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025
He had survived pellagra in Persia, scurvy in the Malayan archipelago, leprosy in Alexandria, beriberi in Japan, bubonic plague in Madagascar, an earthquake in Sicily, and a disastrous shipwreck in the Strait of Magellan.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
