filarial

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English filaria

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English filarial

From filaria + -al.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪˈlɛəɹɪəl/
• Rhymes: -ɛəɹiəl

Adjective

filarial (not comparable)

1. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the microscopic parasitic worms known as filaria, or an infestation thereof.
   • 1914, Edward Rhodes Stitt, The Diagnostics and Treatment of Tropical Diseases, page 266:

     The knowledge of a filarial infection of the region of the eye seems to date from the time of Magellan.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 297:

     From a cosmetic standpoint, the filarial diseases [...] were especially unfortunate.

   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 18:

     Other helminths or wormlike fellow travellers became common in the human gut, including the Enterobius (pinworm or threadworm), the yards-long tapeworm, and the filarial worms which cause elephantiasis and African river blindness.

2. Straight, as if in a line.

   the filarial flight of birds

Derived terms

• antifilarial
• macrofilarial
• microfilarial
• nonfilarial

Translations

of or pertaining to filaria

• French: filarial
• Italian: filariale
• Portuguese: filarial
• Spanish: filarial

Portuguese

Adjective

filarial m or f (plural filariais)

1. (medicine) filarial (pertaining to filaria)