tertian

[ tur-shuhn ]

adjective

1. Pathology. (of a malarial fever, etc.) characterized by paroxysms that recur every other day.

noun

1. Pathology. a tertian fever.
2. a Jesuit during the period of tertianship.

tertian

/ ˈtɜːʃən /

adjective

1. (of a fever or the symptoms of a disease, esp malaria) occurring every other day

noun

1. a tertian fever or symptoms

Other Words From

• sub·tertian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tertian¹

1325–75; Middle English terciane < Latin ( febris ) tertiāna tertian (fever), equivalent to terti ( us ) third + -āna, feminine of -ānus -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of tertian¹

C14: from Latin febris tertiāna fever occurring every third day, reckoned inclusively, from tertius third

Example Sentences

It therefore furnishes the basis of classification of simple intermittents into the following forms: quotidian, tertian, and quartan.

From Project Gutenberg

A certain Person, who purposely sunned himself for a considerable Time, in the clear Day of an intermitting tertian Fever, underwent the Assault of an Apoplexy, which carried him off the following Day.

From Project Gutenberg

A man about forty years old had in the spring a tertian fever, for which he took too small a quantity of bark, so that the returns of it were weakened without being removed.

From Project Gutenberg

A tailor, 30 years of age, had moved to the lower part of the city and contracted a tertian intermittent.

From Project Gutenberg

Two, the so-called benign fevers, are intermittent; namely, tertian and quartan fever, in which the fever recurs every second and third day respectively.

From Project Gutenberg