pernicieux
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin perniciōsus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pɛʁ.ni.sjø/
Adjective
pernicieux (feminine pernicieuse, masculine plural pernicieux, feminine plural pernicieuses)
- (medicine, rare) insidious (having a slow and discreet, but dangerous evolution)
- anémie pernicieuse ― pernicious anemia, or Biermer's anemia, a form of megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency
- fièvre pernicieuse ― pernicious fever (old term for neuro-malaria, the most serious form of malaria fever)
- 1879, Jules Verne, L'Île mystérieuse, Part 3, Chapter 10, translated by Stephen William White:
- Elle est insuffisante, répondit le reporter, et un troisième accès de fièvre pernicieuse qu’on ne coupe pas au moyen de la quinine est toujours mortel!
- [It] Is insufficient. And a third attack of pernicious fever, when one cannot break it by means of quinine, is always mortal!
- (literary) morally harmful; pernicious
- 1715, Alain-René Lesage, Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, Book II, Chapter VII,
- Va, je t’abandonne aux gens qui te donnent de si pernicieux conseils.
- Go, I shall let you to those who give you such pernicious advice.
- 1715, Alain-René Lesage, Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane, Book II, Chapter VII,
- (dated) literally harmful or dangerous, usually of animals or persons
- 1699, François Fénelon, Les Aventures de Télémaque, Book 6, translated 1768 by John Hawkesworth:
- [S]ors aussi, pernicieux enfant: tu m'as fait plus de mal que lui!
- Depart thou also, pernicious boy! for my misfortunes are derived rather from thee than from him!
- 1699, François Fénelon, Les Aventures de Télémaque, Book 6, translated 1768 by John Hawkesworth:
Further reading
- “pernicieux”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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