a serious intestinal disease that causes severe diarrhea and often bloody stools, usually spread through contaminated food or water.
From Greek 'dys-' (bad) and 'entera' (intestines). Medieval physicians used this Greek term to describe the illness. It comes from 'dys' (difficult) combined with intestinal reference.
Dysentery killed more soldiers throughout history than actual combat—during the American Civil War, it killed roughly twice as many soldiers as battle wounds, making sanitation and clean water more important than weapons.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.