Spanish flu

[ span-ish floo ]

noun

, Pathology.

1. the pandemic strain of type A influenza that spread throughout the world during 1918–20: it is also referred to as the 1918 flu pandemic or 1918 influenza pandemic .

Word History and Origins

Origin of Spanish flu¹

First recorded in 1918; so called because wartime censorship in the major belligerent powers, particularly the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, and France, minimized early reports of illness and mortality among themselves but freely reported the effects of the pandemic in neutral Spain, leaving the impression that Spain was very hard hit by this flu

Example Sentences

Muldoon died of a heart attack in 1929 in Tacoma at age 41, possibly weakened by his Spanish flu bout from 1919.

From Seattle Times

Everyone knows by now that a virus can bring a nation to its knees — the tiny terrorists of smallpox, Spanish flu and COVID-19 have disrupted America’s story in lethal and tragic ways.

From Los Angeles Times

From the Athenian plague to the Black Death to the Spanish flu pandemic, these significant outbreaks of diseases have had profound effects on societies and they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.

From Salon

He noted that historical accounts of both the Russian flu and 1918 Spanish flu pandemic show that many people suffered from long-term health effects such as cognitive decline, debilitating fatigue and Parkinson’s disease after infections.

From Salon

New York City’s last such mass death, the so-called Spanish Flu during the First World War, officially took the lives of 30,000 New Yorkers when the city’s population was 5.6 million.

From Salon