# murrain

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/

## Definitions
1. Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
2. A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.
3. Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle or other livestock, such as anthrax, babesiosis, or rinderpest; or a particular epizootic thereof; also, an infectious disease affecting other animals, such as poultry.
4. An infectious disease affecting plants.
5. A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.
6. Death, especially from an infectious disease.
7. Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morior (“to die; to decay, wither”).
The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Italian morìa (“plague”)
* Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium)
* Occitan moria (“death; plague”)
* Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middle French murie)
* Portuguese morrinha (“cattle plague”)
* Spanish morriña (“cattle plague”)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/murrain