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

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Spanish flu

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 ● Feb. 8, 2024

Ms. Replansky, who died in January at 104, survived the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 and the proliferation of polio in the 1950s.

From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

The viaduct is gone, but the Market remains — surviving not only multiple attempts at demolition but the 1918 Spanish flu, Great Depression and COVID-19.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2023

Yet, even a century later, "Spanish flu" is common parlance.

From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2022

To illustrate this, Korn points to the Spanish flu pandemic.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

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