n.
Pronunciation: ' ku ̇ r-( ˌ )ü
Function: noun
Etymology: Fore (language of eastern highland Papua New Guinea)
Date: 1957
: a rare progressive fatal spongiform encephalopathy that is caused by a prion, resembles Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and has occurred among tribespeople in eastern New Guinea who engaged in a form of ritual cannibalism