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Glite Dictionary
parrot fever

parrot fever

7.2
An infection people get from sick birds, often parrots, that causes lung illness
  • noun
  • /ˈpærət ˈfiːvər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fiebre de los loros
  • One species, C. psittaci, causes psittacosis (so-called parrot fever), a respiratory infection transmitted from birds to people.

Examples

  • Symptoms of parrot fever include fever, cough, and difficulty breathing, often resembling pneumonia.

  • Parrot fever.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Doctors have reported cases of parrot fever among people who handle infected birds.

  • Parrot fever is an infectious disease that can be transmitted from birds to humans.

Synonyms

psittacosis
vsparrot fever
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A disease you can get from birds that causes flu-like symptoms

is the same infection but presents as atypical pneumonia in humans
parrot disease
vsparrot fever
  • Specialized
6.1

An illness in parrots caused by bacteria that can pass to people

is the human disease form that causes atypical pneumonia after bird transmission
ornithosis
vsparrot fever
  • Specialized
9.9

An illness people catch from sick birds that harms the lungs

is narrower, often tied to infection from specific pet birds

Surface Forms

parrot fever singular
parrot fevers plural

Morphology

parrot + fever

The compound follows the common English pattern 'X fever' meaning an illness associated with X, so a learner who knows 'parrot' and 'fever' will readily infer it is a disease related to parrots. Although the dictionary sense refers to a specific infection (psittacosis), the overall meaning is compositionally clear and cross-linguistically parsable as a parrot-related illness.

Etymology

The noun parrot fever comes from the literal idea of a sick parrot giving a person a high fever. People who became ill after touching sick birds were said to have 'parrot fever', so today the term means 'an illness people get from parrots'.