herpes

Other forms of herpes

plural

herpeses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about herpes

What does herpes mean?

herpes means "viral diseases causing eruptions of the skin or mucous membrane". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in herpes?

herpes has 2 syllables: her-pes. The stress falls on "her". In IPA it is /ˈhɝpiz/.

What is another word for herpes?

Close synonyms include herpes virus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is herpes a common word?

herpes is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.