pneumonia
- A lung infection causing inflammation of the air sacs, which may fill with fluid, causing cough, fever, and difficulty breathing.
In a sentence
- After a week of high fever and labored breathing, she was diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia.
- Elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to developing pneumonia after influenza.
Usage note. Spelling and pronunciation trap: the initial 'pn-' is silent in English—say 'noo-MOH-nyuh', not 'p-noo-MOH-nyuh'. The silent 'p' is preserved from Greek spelling.
Where it comes from
English pneumonia — “lung inflammation” · entered English 17th c.
From Greek 'pneumonia', meaning 'lung disease', derived from 'pneumon' (lung), which is related to 'pneuma' (breath, spirit, wind) and ultimately to 'pnein' (to breathe). It passed through Latin 'pneumonia' before entering English in the 17th century. Source: Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.