Black Death

American  

noun

1. a form of bubonic plague that spread over Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated quarter of the population.

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Black Death British  

noun

1. a form of bubonic plague pandemic in Europe and Asia during the 14th century, when it killed over 50 million people See bubonic plague

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Black Death Scientific  

1. An epidemic of plague, especially its bubonic form, that occurred in outbreaks between 1347 and 1400. It originated in Asia and then swept through Europe, where it killed about a third of the population.

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Black Death Cultural  

1. A disease that killed nearly half the people of western Europe in the fourteenth century. It was a form of the bubonic plague.

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Etymology

Origin of Black Death

First recorded in 1815–25

Compare meaning

How does black-death compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• bubonic plague vs. Black Death
• Spanish flu vs. Black Death

Example Sentences

Indeed, history is filled with examples of this, from the medieval Black Death hitchhiking along the Silk Road to the “Russian flu” pandemic of the late 19th century that was accelerated by trains and steamships.

From Salon • Feb. 28, 2026

But time travel is an imperfect science, and the technician overseeing the process is delirious from a virulent new strain of flu, so Kivrin is accidentally dropped into 1348, the year of the Black Death.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

A study published in the scientific journal Communications Earth & Environment proposes that volcanic activity may have contributed to the rapid movement of the Black Death across medieval Europe.

From Science Daily • Dec. 8, 2025

Scientists now say a volcano might have triggered Black Death.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 5, 2025

To borrow a trope from the historian Alfred Crosby, if Genghis Khan had arrived with the Black Death, this book would not be written in a European language.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann