Cupid's disease
- noun
- NSFW
:
enfermedad de Cupido
- Many people referred to syphilis as Cupid's disease in the past.
Examples
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In some Victorian novels, characters refer to syphilis as Cupid's disease to avoid explicit discussion of sexuality.
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Doctors in the 18th century sometimes whispered about cases of Cupid's disease among the aristocracy.
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He was rumored to be suffering from Cupid's disease after years of reckless behavior.
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Did you hear that she has Cupid's disease again?
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In the past, society often used the term Cupid's disease to describe the stigma surrounding syphilis.
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Many historical texts mention Cupid's disease as a euphemism for syphilis to discuss the infection discreetly.
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It was common for people to associate Cupid's disease with romantic afflictions in discussions about syphilis.
Synonyms
49
3.7
An infection you get through sexual contact
45
4.8
An infection you can catch by sex, caused by bacteria, that can harm you and your baby if not treated
29
2.7
An illness you can get from someone when you have sex
12
9.9
An infection you catch from sexual contact
7
3.7
A disease spread by sexual contact
6
7.4
A contagious infection spread by sexual contact
1
4.6
An illness that spreads through sexual contact, like syphilis or gonorrhea
1
9.9
An infection you can catch during sex that can cause serious health problems
1
5.8
A disease people get through sex
A sexually transmitted infection caused by bacteria that can damage many body parts and pass from mother to baby
A serious disease spread by sex that causes long-term health problems
An old name for syphilis, an infection spread by sex
An infection caught during sex, especially syphilis
An infection you catch from another person during sex
Surface Forms
Morphology
Cupid's + disease
The phrase combines 'Cupid' (the cultural figure associated with love) with 'disease' (an illness) to create a joking metaphor of being struck by love or 'love-sickness'; a learner who knows both constituents can infer this meaning. The possessive + noun composition and the common cross-linguistic metaphor of love-as-illness make the expression immediately interpretable rather than idiomatic.
Etymology
Cupid's disease was a polite name used long ago for syphilis. The name links Cupid, the little god who shoots arrows of love, with the word disease to suggest that love and sex caused the illness, so people used it to speak quietly about 'syphilis'.