Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

murrain

/ˈmʌɹən/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.45 in modern English

Syllables
mur-rain
IPA
/ˈmʌɹən/
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.

Archaic; Uncountable

noun

A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.

Archaic; Countable

noun

Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle or other livestock, such as anthrax, babesiosis, or rinderpest; or a particular epizootic thereof; also, an infectious disease affecting other animals, such as poultry.

Countable

noun

An infectious disease affecting plants.

Countable

noun

A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.

Countable; Obsolete

noun

Death, especially from an infectious disease.

Obsolete; Uncountable

noun

Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.

Obsolete; Uncountable

adj

Disgusting or offensive, as if having an infectious disease; contemptible, despicable, loathsome, plaguey.

Obsolete

Example Sentences

Etymology

The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morior (“to die; to decay, wither”). The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian morìa (“plague”) * Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium) * Occitan moria (“death; plague”) * Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middle French murie) * Portuguese morrinha (“cattle plague”) * Spanish morriña (“cattle plague”)

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈmʌɹən/
  • British English: /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/

Usage

Inflected Forms

murrains (plural) murrein (alternative) murrion (alternative) more murrain (comparative) most murrain (superlative)

Derived Forms

murrained murrainly

Phrases

steppe murrain water murrain

Synonyms

abject filthy base beggarly blameworthy carrion cheap choical contemptible cringing damnable dedecorous

Questions

How do you pronounce murrain?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmʌɹən/.
What does murrain mean?
Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
Where does murrain come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce murrain

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “murrain”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmʌɹən/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “murrain”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “murrain” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.