Meaning

noun a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

noun any epidemic disease with a high death rate

noun a swarm of insects that attack plants

originFrom Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0