Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tuberculosis

/tuˌbɝkjʊˈloʊsɪs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.58 in modern English

Syllables
tu-ber-cu-lo-sis
IPA
/tuˌbɝkjʊˈloʊsɪs/
16
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis, mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

Etymology

To international scientific vocabulary from New Latin tūberculōsis, from Latin tūberculum (diminutive of tūber (“lump”)) + Latin -ōsis (“diseased condition”); by surface analysis, tubercul(um) + -osis; named for the encapsulated colonies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within the lungs in pulmonary tuberculosis, which can look like small tubers (tubercles) on gross pathology. The disease has existed throughout human experience and had other names for millennia before scientific medicine renamed it with a New Latin term in the mid-19th century (1840s); in English it was called consumption because of the wasting away that consumed health and seemed even to consume flesh in some cases (for example, causing fistulas and tissue breakdown).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *tewh₂-, tūberculōsis, tūberculum
  • Suffix: ōsis

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /tuˌbɝkjʊˈloʊsɪs/
  • British English: /tjuːˌbɜːkjʊˈləʊsɪs/

Usage

Inflected Forms

tuberculoses (plural)

Derived Forms

antituberculosis epituberculosis neurotuberculosis nontuberculosis paratuberculosis pseudotuberculosis silicotuberculosis tuberculin tuberculostatic tuberculotic

Phrases

MDR-TB miliary tuberculosis pulmonary tuberculosis tuberculosis verrucosa cutis XDR-TB DR-TB DS-TB Burkholderia gladioli

Frequently Paired Words

DR-TB DS-TB MDR-TB Mtb XDR-TB Burkholderia gladioli

Synonyms

consumption phthisic TB white death white man's plague white plague t.b.

Rhymes With

osteoporosis stenosis osmosis atherosclerosis endometriosis neurofibromatosis actinomycosis kocis diagnosis prognosis sclerosis hypnosis

Questions

How do you pronounce tuberculosis?
The recorded pronunciation is /tuˌbɝkjʊˈloʊsɪs/.
What does tuberculosis mean?
An infectious disease of humans and animals caused by a species of mycobacterium, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis, mainly infecting the lungs where it causes tubercles characterized by the expectoration of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain, and transmitted through inhalation or ingestion of bacteria.
Where does tuberculosis come from?
It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce tuberculosis

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tuberculosis”.
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