Spanish flu

American  

[span-ish floo] / ˈspæn ɪʃ ˈflu /

Also Spanish influenza

noun

Pathology.

1. the pandemic strain of type A influenza that spread throughout the world during 1918–20: it is also referred to as the 1918 flu pandemic or 1918 influenza pandemic .

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Etymology

Origin of Spanish flu

First recorded in 1918; so called because wartime censorship in the major belligerent powers, particularly the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, and France, minimized early reports of illness and mortality among themselves but freely reported the effects of the pandemic in neutral Spain, leaving the impression that Spain was very hard hit by this flu

Compare meaning

How does spanish-flu compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Spanish flu vs. Black Death
• Spanish flu vs. Black Plague

Example Sentences

Oh yes: Kennedy once told podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was “vaccine-induced flu” even though no flu vaccine existed at the time.

From Los Angeles Times

Popular in the United States during the 1930s and 40s — coincidentally, after the country’s 1920 Spanish Flu epidemic — in reality, post-Prohibition sparked these social clubs where people came to eat, drink and let their hair down.

From Salon

Muldoon died of a heart attack in 1929 in Tacoma at age 41, possibly weakened by his Spanish flu bout from 1919.

From Seattle Times

Everyone knows by now that a virus can bring a nation to its knees — the tiny terrorists of smallpox, Spanish flu and COVID-19 have disrupted America’s story in lethal and tragic ways.

From Los Angeles Times

From the Athenian plague to the Black Death to the Spanish flu pandemic, these significant outbreaks of diseases have had profound effects on societies and they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

From Salon