typhoid

typhoid — noun

1. A bacterial infection of the digestive system passed on through food or water ca

1.nounB2
Definition

A bacterial infection of the digestive system passed on through food or water carrying Salmonella typhi. It brings on a fever that climbs over several days, cramps in the belly area, and a pink rash across the upper body. With early antibiotic treatment, most patients recover fully; without it, the illness can be deadly.

Example

Devika caught typhoid after drinking unclean water during the floods in her village.

Christopher's grandfather died of typhoid before antibiotics were widely available.

historical context: before antibiotics

Common collocations
  • contract typhoid
  • catch typhoid
  • die of typhoid
  • diagnose typhoid
  • typhoid outbreak
  • typhoid vaccine
Synonyms
  • typhoid fever

    the full medical name for the same disease

  • enteric fever

    formal medical term used by doctors, less common in everyday speech

Usage Note

Typhoid is short for 'typhoid fever' — the full medical name. Do not confuse typhoid with typhus: they are different diseases caused by different bacteria and spread through different routes (typhoid through contaminated food or water; typhus through lice or fleas).

Common Mistakes

I caught typhus from eating street food.
I caught typhoid from eating street food.
Typhoid spreads through contaminated food or water; typhus spreads through lice or fleas and is not from food.
Idioms

Typhoid Mary

idiom

a person who spreads something harmful or unpleasant without showing symptoms themselves, from the real-life case of Mary Mallon, a cook who unknowingly spread typhoid in the early 1900s in New York

The journalist called the factory owner a Typhoid Mary for refusing to fix the leaky pipes that spread disease through the town.

typhoid — adjective

Word family

  • typhoidal
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Typhoid and typhus are easy to confuse because their names sound alike and both cause high fevers, but they are completely different diseases. Typhoid (also called typhoid fever) is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria and spreads through food or water contaminated with human waste. Its main symptoms include a high fever that rises slowly over several days, stomach pain, and sometimes pink spots on the chest. Typhus is caused by Rickettsia bacteria and is spread by insects such as lice and fleas, often in crowded or unsanitary conditions. Unlike typhoid, typhus usually starts suddenly with headache and chills, followed by a rash that spreads across the body. For example: 'The lab test confirmed typhoid, so the doctor prescribed antibiotics and advised the patient to drink only boiled water.' 'During the war, typhus spread quickly through the crowded refugee camp, carried by body lice.'

typhoid ↗typhus

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • typhoid fever
  • typhoid outbreak
  • typhoid vaccine
  • typhoid Mary
  • contract typhoid
  • catch typhoid
  • diagnose typhoid
  • die of typhoid
  • typhoid infection

Etymology

GreekEnglish

The word 'typhoid' was created in the early 1800s from Greek 'typhos' (τῦφος), meaning 'smoke, vapor, stupor' — referring to the confused mental state that severe fevers can cause — combined with the suffix '-oid' (from Greek -ειδής, meaning 'resembling'). The name was originally given to a fever that looked like typhus but was later found to be a different disease caused by the Salmonella bacterium.