influenza
noun /ˌɪnfluˈenzə/
/ˌɪnfluˈenzə/
[uncountable] (formal)- flu
- the influenza strain known as H7
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- avian
- human
- attack
- bout
- have
- suffer from
- catch
- …
- epidemic
- outbreak
- pandemic
- …
Word Originmid 18th cent.: from Italian, literally ‘influence’, from medieval Latin influentia ‘inflow’, from Latin influere, from in- ‘into’ + fluere ‘to flow’. The Italian word also has the sense ‘an outbreak of an epidemic’, hence ‘epidemic’. It was applied specifically to an influenza epidemic which began in Italy in 1743, later adopted in English as the name of the disease.