| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˈzōstər, -ˈzäs- noun
Etymology: New Latin, literally, girdle herpes; zoster from Greek zōstēr girdle; akin to Greek zōnē girdle, belt — more at zone
: an acute inflammation of the sensory ganglia of spinal and cranial nerves that tends to occur late in life, during immunological suppression, or following local skin injury, that is caused by reactivation of the virus causing chicken pox, and that is associated with a vesicular eruption and neuralgic pains along the course of those nerves arising in the affected ganglia — called also shingles