Widespread diseases that kill many people, or persistently annoying problems that refuse to go away.
From Latin 'plaga' (blow, stroke, wound), possibly connected to 'plangere' (to strike). The meaning shifted from physical blows to diseases that 'strike' communities.
The Bible's 'Ten Plagues' of Egypt are one of history's most famous examples, and they were likely based on real natural disasters—the plagues of locusts and darkness actually occur in Egypt due to wind patterns and dust storms.
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