Etymologically
Log in

herpes

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈhɜː(ɹ).piz/[1]
  • US: /ˈhɚ.piz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English herpēs, also erpes,[2] borrowed from Latin herpēs (“a spreading skin eruption; shingles”),[3][4][5][6][2] from Ancient Greek ἕρπης (hérpēs, “shingles, literally a creeping”),[5][3][4] from ἕρπω (hérpō, “to creep, move slowly”).[5][4][7] The Greek verb is cognate with Latin serpō (“to creep”), the source of serpent.[4][8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spreading disease of the skin: 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's “De Proprietatibus Rerum”.[5][3][2] Hoad and Collins date the word only to the 17th century.[7][11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English medicine it was a spreading eruption of blisters or pustules put down to "unnatural choler";[2] herpes cingul was shingles and herpes estiomenus gangrene.[2] Etymonline notes that the word covered any inflammatory, spreading skin condition and that these were not told apart as specific diseases until the early 19th century.[4] The image of creeping shows in a 15th-century surgical text by Arderne, which describes the infection as lying lengthwise "as it were ane impetuous serpent".[2] Johnson (1755), following Quincy, described two kinds, one like millet seed on the skin and a more corrosive one that forms little ulcers.[12] From 1925 the word was also used of the group of viruses that cause such diseases, including shingles and chickenpox,[5][13] and it now names chiefly the viral diseases.[13][9]

Timeline

  • 1398 – a spreading disease of the skin.[5][3][2]
  • early 19th century – the skin conditions it covered are told apart as specific diseases.[4]
  • 1925 – a herpesvirus.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of several viral diseases marked by clusters of small blisters on the skin or mucous membranes, especially herpes simplex and herpes zoster.[9][11][13]
  2. A herpesvirus, the cause of these diseases.[5][13]

Word family

  • herpetic
  • herpesvirus
  • genital herpes

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press