fowl cholera

8.1

A contagious bacterial disease of birds, especially chickens, that causes sudden sickness and often death

noun
/faʊl ˈkɒlərə/

Specialized

: cólera aviar

The outbreak of fowl cholera devastated the poultry farm, causing the loss of hundreds of chickens.

Examples

Veterinarians recommend vaccination to prevent fowl cholera in commercial flocks.
Proper sanitation is essential to control the spread of fowl cholera among birds.
The outbreak of fowl cholera affected many farms last year.
Farmers are worried about fowl cholera in their flocks.
Proper sanitation is essential to control the spread of fowl cholera among birds.
The outbreak of fowl cholera devastated the poultry farm, causing the loss of hundreds of chickens.
Veterinarians recommend vaccination to prevent fowl cholera in commercial flocks.

Synonyms

pasteurellosis

vsfowl cholera

Specialized

9.9

An illness that mainly affects animals and sometimes people, causing lung or blood infection from Pasteurella bacteria

is limited to birds and causes acute diarrhea and blood infection

Surface Forms

fowl cholera singular

fowl choleras plural

Morphology

fowl + cholera

The compound is directly compositional: 'fowl' (domestic birds) + 'cholera' (a diarrheal disease) yields a disease of birds, so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to cholera affecting birds. This noun–noun naming pattern for diseases is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner would generally understand the meaning even if they lack detailed veterinary knowledge.

Etymology

Fowl cholera comes from two simple words: fowl (meaning birds) and cholera (an old name for a severe gut illness that causes bad diarrhea). Farmers and animal doctors used that human word for a similar, deadly disease in chickens, so today the name means 'a contagious, often fatal bird disease'.