What does chickenpox mean?
Chickenpox is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, best known as a common childhood illness. It typically begins with fever, tiredness, and loss of appetite, followed by an intensely itchy rash of small fluid-filled blisters that spread across the body and crust over within a week or so. Most cases are mild and leave lasting immunity, though infection can be more serious in adults, pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems. After recovery, the virus remains dormant in nerve tissue for life and can reactivate years later as shingles. A safe and effective vaccine introduced in the 1990s has sharply reduced cases in countries that routinely immunize against it. The word functions as an uncountable noun — one 'catches' or 'comes down with' chickenpox — and its formal medical name is varicella.
nounA highly contagious viral disease, chiefly affecting children, characterized by fever and an itchy rash of small blisters that crust over before healing; caused by the varicella-zoster virus.
- An acute, highly contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, marked by fever and an itchy blistering rash, occurring especially in children.
"The whole nursery class was sent home after two children came down with chickenpox."
"She caught chickenpox at nursery just before her fourth birthday."
"Adults who contract chickenpox often suffer more severe symptoms than children do."
Chickenpox is an uncountable (mass) noun and has no plural form; it takes singular verbs and is quantified with phrases such as 'a case of chickenpox' or 'an outbreak of chickenpox'.
"There were three confirmed cases of chickenpox at the school this week."
The name 'chickenpox' has nothing to do with chickens — one leading theory is that 'chicken' was originally a medieval English word meaning 'child', making it literally the 'child pox'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chickenpox
The word 'chickenpox' first appeared in English in the late 17th century, formed by combining 'chicken' with 'pox', the plural of 'pock', meaning a pustule or blemish. Its origin is uncertain: one theory links it to the milder, less threatening nature of the disease compared with smallpox, as if it were the 'lesser pox'; another holds that 'chicken' derives from an older sense of the word meaning 'child'. It shares the element '-pox' with related terms such as 'smallpox' and 'cowpox', all referring to diseases marked by eruptive skin lesions.
How chickenpox is actually used
Treated as an uncountable noun in standard usage ('he has chickenpox', never 'a chickenpox'). The formal medical term is 'varicella'. The word carries no strong connotation beyond its association with childhood illness.
Easily confused with chickenpox
Smallpox was a far more deadly viral disease eradicated worldwide in 1980, whereas chickenpox is a usually mild childhood illness caused by a different virus.
Shingles is a painful rash in adults caused by the reactivation of the dormant varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox — but it is a separate condition.