SYPHILIS

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Syphilus, hero of the poem Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus (Syphilis or the French disease) (1530) by Girolamo Fracastoro died 1553 Italian poet and physician Date: 1718 a chronic contagious usually venereal and often congenital disease caused by a spirochete ( Treponema pallidum ) and if left untreated producing chancres, rashes, and systemic lesions in a clinical course with three stages continued over many years, syphilitic adjective or noun