Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Epidemic
A widespread outbreak of a disease in a community.
The Greek roots
ἐπί
epí
upon
δῆμος
dêmos
the people
Literally: “upon the people”
The story of the word
A disease that settles 'upon the people'. Widen its reach to all the people and it becomes a pandemic.
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
In a sentence
Health officials moved quickly to contain the epidemic.