shingles

Everyday

1. An illness that causes a painful rash with blisters, usually on one side of the body; it is caused by the same virus as chickenpox waking up again years later. tree →
2. (shingle, UK) Small smooth stones on a beach. tree →
3. Small flat pieces of wood or other material that overlap to cover a roof or wall. tree →

In the lessons

In health lessons shingles shows that a virus (chickenpox) can hide in the body for years; it is mostly older people who get it, and there is a vaccine. In geography lessons on coasts, a shingle beach is a pebbly beach, common in Britain. In North America, roof shingles are what most house roofs are covered with.

Examples

• Grandad has shingles and his side is very sore. tree →
• You can only get shingles if you have had chickenpox. tree →
• Shingles is not caught from someone's cough the way a cold is. tree →
• Brighton beach is covered in shingle, not sand. tree →
• The storm blew some shingles off our roof. tree →
• The shingle crunched under our feet as we walked to the sea. tree →
• Old people can have a vaccine against shingles. tree →

Note

The illness "shingles" looks plural but takes a singular verb: "Shingles is painful." The beach word is usually "shingle" (uncountable: a shingle beach). Roof shingles are countable. Health fact: a person with shingles can give chickenpox (not shingles) to someone who never had it, through the blisters.