chicken pox

See also: chickenpox

English

A child with chicken pox

Alternative forms

• chickenpox, chicken-pox

Etymology

From chicken + pox, under the influence of earlier hen-pox and swinepox, which formed larger blisters.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒks

Noun

chicken pox (usually uncountable, plural chicken poxes)

1. (now rare, pathology) The blisters formed by the varicella zoster virus (VZV).

   Synonym: chicken pock

2. (pathology) The highly contagious airborne disease caused by initial infection with varicella zoster virus, typically causing a skin rash that forms small itchy blisters.

   Synonym: varicella

   • 2009 May 7, New York Times, page A12:

     Chickenpox parties, at which children gather so they can all be infected by a child who has the pox, are often held by parents who distrust chickenpox vaccine or want their children to have the stronger immunity that surviving a full-blown infection affords.

3. (inexact, sometimes proscribed, pathology) Any disease causing similar symptoms.

Derived terms

• chickenpox party

Translations

disease

• Albanian: li e bardhë f, li e dushkut f, li e mirë f, li e pyllit f
• Arabic: جُدَرِيّ المَاء m (judariyy al-māʔ), عَنْقَز m (ʕanqaz)

  Hijazi Arabic: عَنْقَز m (ʕangaz)

  Moroccan Arabic: بوشويكة f (bušwīka)

• Armenian: ջրծաղիկ (hy) (ǰrcaġik)
• Assamese: মাজু আই (mazu ai)
• Azerbaijani: toyuqçiçəyi
• Belarusian: ветрана́я во́спа f (vjetranája vóspa), ветра́нка f (vjetránka), ахва́т m (axvát)
• Bikol Central: utos (bcl)
• Bulgarian: варицела f (varicela)
• Burmese: ကျောက်ရောဂါ (kyauk-rau:ga), ပဲသီတာ (my) (pai:sita)
• Catalan: varicel·la f
• Cebuano: hangga
• Cherokee: ᏣᏔᎦ ᎤᏃᏔᏩᎸᏍᎩ (tsataga unotawalvsgi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 水痘 (seoi² dau^6-2)

  Hokkien: 水珠 (zh-min-nan) (chúi-chu)

  Mandarin: 水痘 (zh) (shuǐdòu)

• Czech: plané neštovice (cs) f pl
• Danish: skoldkopper
• Dutch: waterpokken (nl), wijnpokken, windpokken (nl), varicella (nl)
• Erzya: варма ливкст pl (varma ľivkst)
• Esperanto: varioleto
• Faroese: skáldkoppar m pl
• Finnish: vesirokko (fi)
• French: varicelle (fr) f
• Galician: bolercas f, boas (gl) f, lambercas f
• German: Windpocken (de) f pl
• Greek: ανεμοβλογιά (el) f (anemovlogiá)
• Gujarati: અછબડા (achabḍā)
• Hebrew: אבעבועות רוח f pl (ava'abu'ot ruakh)
• Hindi: छोटी माता (choṭī mātā)
• Hungarian: bárányhimlő (hu)
• Ilocano: tuko
• Irish: deilgneach f
• Italian: varicella (it) f
• Japanese: 水痘 (ja) (すいとう, suitō), 水疱瘡 (ja) (みずぼうそう, mizubōsō)
• Kikuyu: mũthandũkũ class 3
• Korean: 수두(水痘) (ko) (sudu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مێکوتە (mêkute)

• Lao: ໝາກສຸກ ໝາກໃສ (māk suk māk sai)
• Luxembourgish: Waasserpouken (lb) pl
• Malayalam: ചിക്കൻപോക്സ് (ml) (cikkaṉpōksŭ)
• Maltese: ġidri r-riħ m
• Maori: koroputa hei
• Marathi: कांजिण्या (kāñjiṇyā)
• Nandi: kâpimperu
• Neapolitan: ìsciola f
• Norman: vétheule volante f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vannkopper (no) pl

• Plautdietsch: Wintpock f
• Polish: ospa (pl) f, ospa wietrzna (pl) f, wiatrówka (pl) f, wietrzyca f
• Portuguese: varicela (pt) f, catapora (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਛੋਟੀ ਮਾਤਾ (choṭī mātā)
• Quechua: hawaqlla muru unquy
• Romanian: vărsat de vânt (ro) n
• Russian: ветряна́я о́спа (ru) f (vetrjanája óspa), ветря́нка (ru) f (vetrjánka)
• Sassarese: rosa f, baglioru basthardhu m
• Sinhalese: පැපොල (pæpola)
• Somali: busbus
• Spanish: varicela (es) f, (Cuba) china (es) f, (Venezuela) lechina (es) f, (Chile) peste cristal f
• Sundanese: ᮎᮎᮁ (cacar)
• Swahili: tetekuwanga
• Swedish: vattkoppor (sv)
• Tagalog: bulutung-tubig, bulutong-tubig
• Tamil: சின்னம்மை (ta) (ciṉṉammai), பயற்றம்மை (ta) (payaṟṟammai)
• Thai: อีสุกอีใส (th) (ii-sùk-ii-sǎi), สุกใส (th)
• Turkish: su çiçeği (tr)
• Ukrainian: вітряна́ ві́спа f (vitrjaná víspa), вітря́нка f (vitrjánka)
• Vietnamese: thủy đậu (vi)
• Waigali: jëgërë
• Walloon: ploketes d' aiwe (wa) f pl
• Waray-Waray: hangga
• Welsh: brech yr ieir f

See also

• herpes zoster, shingles

References

• “chickenpox, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.