SYPHILIS

[syph.i.lis] n [NL, fr. Syphilus, hero of the poem Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus (Syphilis or the French disease) (1530) by Girolamo Fracastoro d. 1553 Ital. poet, physician, and astronomer] (1718): a chronic contagious usu. 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--compare primary syphilis, secondary syphilis, tertiary syphilis -- syph.i.lit.ic adj or n