Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pertussis

/pɚˈtʌsɪs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.55 in modern English

Syllables: per-tus-sis
IPA: /pɚˈtʌsɪs/

11

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Whooping cough.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"With the introduction of an improved and standardized pertussis vaccine in the 1940s, there followed a remarkable decline in pertussis in the United States, most of the Western world, and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan."
"Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen that infects the human respiratory tract, causing the disease pertussis or whooping cough."
"2015, Dr. Stephen Berger, Pertussis: Global Status, GIDEON Informatics, Inc., E-book, page 343, During 1993 to 2004, the hospitalization rate [in the US] for pertussis among infants ages <= 2 months was 239 per 100,000 live births."

Etymology

From New Latin, from Latin per- (“thorough”) + tussis (“cough”).

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Prefix: per
Root: *(s)tewd-, -

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /pɚˈtʌsɪs/
British English: /pəˈtʌsɪs/

Usage

Inflected Forms

pertusses (plural)

Derived Forms

parapertussis

Frequently Paired Words

pertussal pertussoid DPT

Synonyms

whooping cough

Questions

How do you pronounce pertussis?: The recorded pronunciation is /pɚˈtʌsɪs/.
What does pertussis mean?: Whooping cough.
Where does pertussis come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce pertussis

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “pertussis”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/pɚˈtʌsɪs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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