Spanish influenza

See also: Spanish Influenza

English

Alternative forms

Spanish Influenza, Spanish flu, Spanish Flu

Etymology

Named after Spain, which reported on the spread of disease while most other countries were concealing it, leading to a mistaken impression that it was concentrated in Spain.

Noun

Spanish influenza (uncountable)

(pathology) A form of influenza that spread to nearly every part of the world in a pandemic between 1918 and 1920, killing from 20 to 100 million people.
Synonym: purulent bronchitis
- 1920, Oscar Jewell Harvey, The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918‎, Pennsylvania: Wilkes-Barre, page 25:
  By systematic organization and effort we have been endeavoring to combat Spanish Influenza in Luzerne County, with its population of 350,000 souls.

Coordinate terms

swine flu
bird flu

Translations

influenza pandemic

Chinese:
Mandarin: 西班牙流感 (Xībānyá liúgǎn)
Czech: španělská chřipka f
Danish: spanske syge
Dutch: Spaanse griep
Esperanto: hispana gripo
Estonian: Hispaania gripp (et)
Finnish: espanjantauti (fi)
Galician: gripe española f, gripo m
German: Spanische Grippe (de) f
Hungarian: spanyolnátha (hu)
Icelandic: spænska veikin
Portuguese: gripe espanhola f
Russian: испа́нка (ru) f (ispánka)
Spanish: gripe española (es) f, gripe de 1918 f, gripe de 18 f
Swedish: spanska sjukan (sv)