malaria
malaria (mə-lârʹē-ə) noun
1. An infectious disease characterized by cycles of chills, fever, and sweating, caused by the parasitic infection of red blood cells by a protozoan of the genus Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected female anopheles mosquito. Also called paludism, swamp fever.
2. Archaic. Bad or foul air; miasma.
[Italian , from mala aria, bad air : malo, bad (from Latin malus) + aria, air (from Latin āēr), from Greek aēr.]
malarʹial or malarʹian, malarʹious adjective