Zika
[zee-kuh]
- Also called Zika fever, Zika disease, Zika virus disease. an illness caused by a chiefly mosquito-borne virus of the genus Flavivirus, typically characterized by mild fever, rash, and joint pain.
- the virus that causes this illness; Zika virus.
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Origin of Zika
First recorded in 1950–55, Zika is from the Luganda word zika “overgrown”; the virus was first identified in a rhesus monkey in the Zika Forest in Uganda
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018