Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

black death

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.13 in modern English

Syllables
black- death
IPA
22
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A pandemic outbreak of bubonic plague throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Calque of Danish den sorte død (literally “the black death”), sortedød (“black death”), since 1755, from Old Danish. The collocation as such is attested early on, but the specific use is believed to have originated in Scandinavia and is first attested in Swedish swarta dödhen (1540), svarthe döden (1555); Modern Swedish svarta döden; compare Norwegian svartedauden, svartedauen.

Word Breakdown

Inflected Forms

the Black Death (canonical)

Synonyms

the plague the bubonic plague the Black Plague black plague

Questions

What does black death mean?
A pandemic outbreak of bubonic plague throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia.
Where does black death come from?
Calque of Danish den sorte død (literally “the black death”), sortedød (“black death”), since 1755, from Old Danish. The collocation as such is attested early on, but the specific use is believed to have originated in Scandinavia and is first attested in Swedish swarta dödhen (1540), svarthe döden (1555); Modern Swedish svarta döden; compare Norwegian svartedauden, svartedauen.

How to pronounce black death

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