DIPHTHERIA

noun Etymology: New Latin, from French diphthérie, from Greek diphthera leather; from the toughness of the false membrane Date: circa 1851 an acute febrile contagious disease typically marked by the formation of a false membrane especially in the throat and caused by a gram-positive bacterium ( Corynebacterium ~e ) that produces a toxin causing inflammation of the heart and nervous system, ~l adjective diphtheritic adjective