miasma

English

WOTD – 31 January 2007

Etymology

First attested in 1665. From Ancient Greek μίασμα (míasma, “stain; pollution”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /miˈæzmə/, /maɪˈæzmə/
(US) enPR: mī-ăz'mə, mē- ăz'mə, IPA^(key): /maɪˈæzmə/, /miˈæzmə/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -æzmə
Homophone: my asthma

Noun

miasma (plural miasmas or miasmata)

A noxious atmosphere or emanation once thought to originate from swamps and waste, and to cause disease.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC, page 276:
  There was an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler air.
(figurative) A noxious atmosphere or influence, an ominous environment.
- 2020 September 15, Geoffrey Morrison, “aptX: Everything you need to know about the wireless Bluetooth enhancement”, in CNET‎:
  It was into this lossy compression miasma that aptX was born.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:miasma.

Related terms

miasmatic

Translations

noxious atmosphere or influence

Bulgarian: миазма f (miazma)
Catalan: miasma m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 瘴氣／瘴气 (zh) (zhàngqì)
Czech: tíživá atmosféra
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: miasma (nl) n, miasme (nl) n, verpeste atmosfeer
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: myrkkyhöyry
French: miasme (fr) m
Galician: miasma m
German: Miasma (de) n
Greek: μίασμα (el) n (míasma)
Italian: miasma (it) m
Japanese: 瘴気 (しょうき, shōki), 毒素 (ja) (dokuso)
Khmer: ជាបរិយាកាសដែលធ្វើឲ្យខូច (pa’re’yaakaah dael tvəə aoy kʰooc)
Korean: 장기(瘴氣) (ko) (janggi), 장독(瘴毒) (jangdok)
Occitan: please add this translation if you can
Polish: miazmat (pl) m
Portuguese: miasma (pt) m
Romanian: miasmă (ro) f
Russian: миа́зм (ru) m (miázm), миа́зма (ru) f (miázma)
Slovak: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: miasma (es)
Turkish: miyasma (tr)
Vietnamese: chướng khí

noxious emanation that originates from swamps and causes disease

Bulgarian: изпарение (bg) n (izparenie)
Czech: těžké/jedovaté výpary m pl
Dutch: miasma (nl) n, miasme (nl) n, moerasdamp m
French: miasme (fr)
Italian: miasma (it) m
Polish: wyziew (pl) m
Portuguese: miasma (pt) m
Spanish: miasma (es)
Turkish: miyasma (tr)

Further reading

miasma theory on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
miasma (Greek mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

Masami, imaams

Dutch

Etymology

First attested in 1778. Borrowed from New Latin miasma, from Ancient Greek μίασμα (míasma, “stain, pollution”).[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌmiˈɑs.maː/
Audio (file)
Hyphenation: mi‧as‧ma
Rhymes: -ɑsmaː

Noun

miasma n (plural miasmata or miasma's, diminutive miasmaatje n)

miasma (noxious atmosphere or influence)
(medicine, historical) miasma (emanation from rotting organic matter causing diseases)

Derived terms

miasmatisch

References

van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “miasma”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μίασμα (míasma, “stain, pollution”).

Noun

miasma m (plural miasmi)

miasma

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin miasma, from Ancient Greek μίασμα (míasma, “pollution”).

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /miˈaz.mɐ/ [mɪˈaz.mɐ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈmjaz.mɐ/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /miˈaʒ.mɐ/ [mɪˈaʒ.mɐ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈmjaʒ.mɐ/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /miˈaz.ma/ [mɪˈaz.ma], (faster pronunciation) /ˈmjaz.ma/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmjaʒ.mɐ/

Noun

miasma m (plural miasmas)

miasma (noxious atmosphere or influence)
(medicine, historical) miasma (noxious emanation from swamps that was thought to cause diseases)

Related terms

miasmático

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmjasma/ [ˈmjaz.ma]
Rhymes: -asma
Syllabification: mias‧ma

Noun

miasma m (plural miasmas)

miasma

Further reading

“miasma”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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