polio

UK/ˈpəʊljəʊ/US/ˈpoʊlioʊ/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,818 of 15,258neutral

Polio is a disease that can leave the limbs paralysed. Polio vaccine, contract polio, a polio survivor.

It attacks the nerves that drive the muscles, and most people who catch the virus never know, while a few are paralysed for life. Vaccination has taken it to the edge of eradication: cases have fallen by more than ninety-nine per cent since 1988.

Definitions of polio

1nounpolioA disease that can leave the limbs paralysed.B2+
“My grandfather caught polio as a child and walked with a stick for the rest of his life.”

polio is a disease.

Where it comes from

A shortening of poliomyelitis, from Greek polios, grey, plus myelos, marrow — the grey matter of the cord.

Proto-Indo-European
*pelH-
English, today
polio

First element of poliomyelitis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

polio in the wild

Years after recovery, post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.
Polio
Following the introduction of polio vaccines in the 1950s, polio incidence declined rapidly.
Polio
The polio vaccine is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
Polio vaccine
Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to combat polio.
March of Dimes
After funding Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, the organization expanded its focus to the prevention of birth defects and infant mortality.
March of Dimes

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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