Main Entry:

an·thrax

Pronunciation:

\ˈan-ˌthraks\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English antrax carbuncle, from Latin anthrax, from Greek, coal, carbuncle

Date:

1861

: an infectious disease of warm-blooded animals (as cattle and sheep) caused by a spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus anthracis), transmissible to humans especially by the handling of infected products (as wool), and characterized by cutaneous ulcerating nodules or by often fatal lesions in the lungs ; also : the bacterium causing anthrax