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mal de mer

mal de mer

9.9
A feeling of sickness and dizziness on a boat because of movement
  • noun
  • /mæl də mɛr/
translation icon : mareo
  • Cures Marie's mal de mer.

Examples

  • After a few hours of sailing, I realized that I was suffering from mal de mer and needed fresh air.

  • Mr. B has a touch of mal de mer.

  • Alas, Monsieur, ever since I was a small boy, I have suffered from le mal de mer.

  • I find that bodily I am proof now against seasickness, but my temper has a violent attack of mal de mer.

    Blog text (22)
  • The train rocked like a ship at sea, and sleepers held to their berths in terror, the more nervous actually succumbing to mal de mer.

    Blog text (22)
  • Our first night out, the ship plunged through foaming Atlantic swells that sent Mom to bed with what she called "terminal mal de mer," but dawn broke on a tranquil ocean and balmy skies.

    Academic text (2001)
  • While on the cruise, several passengers were affected by mal de mer and had to stay in their cabins.

  • She tried to read a book, but the waves made her feel queasy with mal de mer.

Synonyms

motion sickness
vsmal de mer
11 3.0

Feeling dizzy and sick when you travel in cars, boats or planes

is limited to illness caused specifically by sea travel
seasickness
vsmal de mer
6 3.5

A feeling of being sick with nausea and dizziness on a moving boat

is the illness that occurs specifically during sea travel
naupathia
vsmal de mer
  • Archaic
9.9

A feeling of sickness and dizziness when you travel on water, like on a boat

is the common everyday term rather than the medical label

Antonyms

190 1.0

A feeling of physical ease and being free from pain

52 3.2

Good physical and mental health that people try to keep

How Severe

dehydration
37 3.8
vomiting
7 2.0
mal de mer
9.9
nausea
91 3.0
queasiness
3 5.8

Surface Forms

mal de mer singular
mal de mers plural

Morphology

mal + de + mer

The phrase literally composes as 'mal' (illness/bad) + 'de' (of) + 'mer' (sea), so a learner who knows those constituents can derive the meaning 'illness of the sea' = seasickness. This is a direct, compositional loan from French that mirrors a cross-linguistic 'illness of X' pattern, so its meaning is transparently recoverable from the parts.

Etymology

Mal de mer is a French phrase made of mal 'bad', de 'of', and mer 'sea'. This picture of feeling 'bad' because of the 'sea' explains why mal de mer means 'seasickness'.