Word.ws English Dictionary

monkeypox

monkeypox noun: a disease of the skin of rodents and primates, including humans, caused by virus of species Orthopoxvirus monkeypox.

Noun

monkeypox (uncountable)

  1. A disease of the skin of rodents and primates, including humans, caused by virus of species Orthopoxvirus monkeypox.
    • In a remote southwestern pocket of the Central African Republic, doctor Patrick Karume and his small team are on the jungle frontline to quarantine a rare outbreak of monkeypox.2018 October 25, “On the frontline against monkeypox in Central African Republic”, in France 24, archived from the original on 25 Oct 2018
    • Monkeypox is a rare viral pox-like disease from the smallpox family, only milder. It can be transmitted through respiratory droplets, contact with body fluids or contact with an infected animal or animal products.
    • The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States saw a large outbreak among humans in 2003 after the virus spread from imported African rodents to pet prairie dogs. However, this is believed to be the first monkeypox virus infection in a...2021 July 16, “Dallas resident returns from Nigeria with case of monkeypox”, in AP News, archived from the original on 16 Jul 2021

Forms of monkeypox

alternative formmonkey-pox
alternative formmonkey pox

Origin of monkeypox

From monkey + pox; originally so named based on cases in monkeys, although the name was a misnomer because monkeys are less of a reservoir for the disease than other animals are. More at Wikipedia (mpox § Nomenclature).

Questions about monkeypox

What does monkeypox mean?
Monkeypox means a disease of the skin of rodents and primates, including humans, caused by virus of species Orthopoxvirus monkeypox.
What part of speech is monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a noun.

Words near monkeypox in the dictionary

  1. monkeypatching
  2. monkeypod
  3. monkeypods
  4. monkeypot
  5. monkeypots
  6. monkeypox
  7. monkeypuzzle
  8. monkeypuzzles
  9. monkeyronies
  10. monkeyrony
  11. monkeyrun

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monkeypox (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “monkeypox.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monkeypox. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.