Skip to main content
grippe

grippe

1 9.9
A contagious illness like the flu that causes fever and cough
  • noun
  • /ɡrɪp/
  • Archaic
translation icon : gripe
  • Due to her struggle with the grippe, she found it difficult to attend school this week.
  • a bout of grippe

Examples

  • Your son looks very thin, as a result of his recent bout with the grippe, and I think perhaps he is studying too hard.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Your friend has got the grippe.

  • Now the summer was upon them; the captain had not been shot down, and he said he had the grippe.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Tell the teacher you had the grippe, didn't wanna spread it to the rest of the class.

  • Besides, it's just a case of the grippe, don't you suppose?

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Denis Cook's worsening grippe convinced him to quit work early and travel straight home to bed.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Ilsa lay in bed, feverish, felled by a severe case of summer grippe.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • In January, he failed to write, and instead, the headmaster wrote that Robert Josiah was ill with a mild attack of the "grippe," but felt confident that he would soon be fully recovered.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • After catching the grippe, she spent a week in bed with a high fever and a cough.

  • He was diagnosed with the grippe and advised to rest and stay hydrated.

Synonyms

flu
vsgrippe
354 1.0

A common contagious illness that causes fever, aches, and coughs

is an older, less commonly used word for that illness
influenza
vsgrippe
  • Specialized
50 3.3

A contagious illness caused by a virus that gives fever, body aches, and cough

is an older, now uncommon name for the same disease

How Severe

sepsis
  • Specialized
14 7.0
pneumonia
  • Specialized
121 4.3
grippe
  • Archaic
1 9.9
common cold
17 1.1

Surface Forms

grippe singular
grippes plural

Etymology

Grippe comes from the French verb gripper, which means 'to grab' or 'to grip' and is like the English word grip. People used it because the illness felt as if it 'grabbed' someone suddenly, so grippe came to mean influenza.