Definition

Noun: * Tuberculosis; phthisis: An infectious disease, primarily affecting the lungs, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is characterized by symptoms such as a persistent cough, fever, weight loss, and fatigue. The term is now considered somewhat dated or literary in modern medical contexts.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Ông ấy đã mắc ho lao từ nhiều năm trước. (He contracted tuberculosis many years ago.)
  • Trước đây, ho lao là một căn bệnh rất nguy hiểm và phổ biến. (In the past, phthisis was a very dangerous and common disease.)
  • Các triệu chứng của ho lao bao gồm ho kéo dài và sụt cân. (The symptoms of tuberculosis include a prolonged cough and weight loss.)

Advanced Usage

• The term "ho lao" is a compound noun formed from "ho" (cough) and "lao" (tuberculosis/wasting), directly describing a key symptom of the disease. It is an older, descriptive term.
• In contemporary Vietnamese, the more common and formal medical term is "bệnh lao" or simply "lao". "Ho lao" may still be used in historical contexts, literature, or by older generations.

Variants and Related Words

• Bệnh lao (n): The standard modern term for tuberculosis.
• Lao phổi (n): Pulmonary tuberculosis, specifying the lung form of the disease.
• Người bị lao / bệnh nhân lao (n): A person with tuberculosis; a tuberculosis patient.
• Trực khuẩn lao (n): Tubercle bacillus ().

Synonyms

• Tuberculosis (TB): The standard English medical term.
• Phthisis: An older, now largely historical English term for pulmonary tuberculosis.
• Consumption: A very old-fashioned English term for tuberculosis, emphasizing the "wasting away" of the body.

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Chết vì ho lao: To die of tuberculosis.
  • Nhân vật chính trong tiểu thuyết ấy đã chết vì ho lao. (The main character in that novel died of tuberculosis.)
• While not a phrasal verb, the structure "bị/mắc ho lao" is the common collocation meaning "to have/contract tuberculosis".

noun

1. tuberculosis ; phthisis