epidemic parotitis

5.9

A viral disease called mumps that causes fever and swelling of the glands by the ears and spreads easily

noun
/ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk pəˈrɒtɪtɪs/

Specialized

: parotiditis epidémica

Physicians recorded several cases of epidemic parotitis in the community this year.

Examples

Measles, rubella, and epidemic parotitis are all preventable with vaccination.
Doctors are concerned about the rise in epidemic parotitis cases.
An outbreak of epidemic parotitis forced the local school to close for a week.
The outbreak of epidemic parotitis affected many children last year.
An outbreak of epidemic parotitis forced the local school to close for a week.
Measles, rubella, and epidemic parotitis are all preventable with vaccination.
Doctors are concerned about the rise in epidemic parotitis cases among school-aged children.

Synonyms

mumps

vsepidemic parotitis

Specialized

1 3.7

A viral illness that causes fever and swollen cheeks near the jaw, often in children

is the formal medical name for the same disease

parotitis

vsepidemic parotitis

Specialized

9.6

Swelling and pain of the glands that make saliva near the jaw

is a specific contagious viral illness rather than general gland inflammation

Surface Forms

epidemic parotitis singular

epidemic parotitises plural

Morphology

epidemic + parotitis

This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: a B1 learner who knows 'epidemic' (widespread outbreak) and 'parotitis' (inflammation of the parotid glands) can infer it means parotitis occurring as an epidemic (i.e., mumps). The construction follows normal semantic composition and has clear cross‑linguistic parallels, so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Epidemic parotitis literally describes the illness: epidemic means it spreads to many people and parotitis means swelling of the glands that make saliva near the ears. That's why the term refers to the disease we now call 'mumps', which causes fever and swollen cheeks.