[Vocabulary] Do you use "temperature" when you mean "fever"?

[Aamir Tariq]

Do you use "temperature" when you talk about "fever"?

1. She is suffering from fever.
2. She is having a fever/She is having fever. (Should we use indefinite article "a" here?)
3. She has a fever.
   
4. She has a temperature.

Regards
Aamir the Global Citizen

 

[GoesStation]

Sentences 3 and 4 are common in AmE. The indefinite article is required. Please avoid she has a temperature, even though it's widely used. Even dead people have a temperature, though it tends to be the same as the ambient temperature. :-(

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Sentences 3 and 4 are common in AmE. The indefinite article is required. Please avoid she has a temperature, even though it's widely used. Even dead people have a temperature, though it tends to be the same as the ambient temperature. :-(

You said 3 and 4 were common. You also said indefinite article was required and then you asked me to avoid using "She has a temperature".

So if I say "She has a temperature".
So doesn't it mean she a fever or her surroundings have a high temperature because of which she is feeling hot/she is feeling the heat, is that what you meant to say? I am confused.

 

[Roman55]

You said 3 and 4 were common. You also said indefinite article was required and then you asked me to avoid using "She has a temperature".
I am confused.

So am I.

I don't see anything wrong with, 'She has a temperature'. You can also use 'running' instead of 'has'.

 

[Tarheel]

People use "So and So has a temperature" to mean that person has a fever, but that annoys those of us who are picky about the words we use.

 

[Roman55]

'She has/is running a temperature' may be considered slightly informal at most. I still don't see anything wrong with it, in BrE that is.

 

[bhaisahab]

I use "She has a temperature", not "She has a fever".

 

[Rover_KE]

For me, 'She has a temperature' also means 'She's feverish'.

 

[GoesStation]

So if I say "She has a temperature".
So doesn't it mean she a fever or her surroundings have a high temperature because of which she is feeling hot/she is feeling the heat, is that what you meant to say? I am confused.

I meant to say that pedants point out that everything has a temperature. It may be normal, above normal, or even equal to the ambient temperature. A person whose temperature is the same as the ambient temperature is dead unless it's quite a hot day.

However, in common usage, to have a temperature means "to have a fever". Reading the British forum members' responses makes me think that to have a temperature may be more common in BrE than in AmE.

 

[Skrej]

You said 3 and 4 were common. You also said indefinite article was required and then you asked me to avoid using "She has a temperature".

So if I say "She has a temperature".
So doesn't it mean she a fever or her surroundings have a high temperature because of which she is feeling hot/she is feeling the heat, is that what you meant to say? I am confused.

This is just GoesStation's personal pet peeve, not a standard rule.

As others have said, I see no problem with the expression "has a temperature", and frequently use it myself as a speaker of AmE.

It's clear from context that you mean "a higher than normal" temperature.

 

[emsr2d2]

It might just be me but I would say that someone who has a fever is in a more serious condition than someone who just has a high temperature. I have had a high temperature several times in my life, usually when suffering from flu. I have only had a real fever once, when I had blood poisoning and I was practically delirious. The highest temperature (103) happened to coincide with the final day of my TEFL course! You can imagine how much fun that was!

 

[GoesStation]

In American medical usage, a fever is any core body temperature above the normal range. Exactly where the normal range ends and fever begins is a little fuzzy, but I think somewhere around 100 Fahrenheit would count as a fever for most people.

 

[Raymott]

Medically speaking, a raised temperature due to the flu is a fever. If you had the flu and went to an Australian doctor, and he asked you if you'd had a fever, and you said 'no', you would be misleading him if you had had a "temperature".

 

[emsr2d2]

It's just as well I would never consider visiting a doctor for something as non-urgent as a bout of flu then!

Having said that, if a doctor asked me, I would tell him/her what my actual temperature was and let him/her decide whether to consider it a fever or not. I have a thermometer at home and if I'm ill enough, I use it.

 

[GoesStation]

It's just as well I would never consider visiting a doctor for something as non-urgent as a bout of flu then!

If you really catch the flu (not the various intestinal bugs colloquially called "flu") you should get to the doctor immediately. Antiviral prescription drugs can shorten the duration of the illness by a couple of days -- but only if taken within 48 hours of your first symptoms. Influenza has killed up to 20,000 people per year in England and Wales.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm aware of the potential for vulnerable/immuno-suppressed people to suffer serious consequences from the flu but I can assure you I know the difference between colds, bugs and flu. I have had flu 3 times in my few decades on the planet. Each bout was horrible and lasted between 10 days and 3 weeks. I don't use prescription drugs though - I ride it out!

Anyway, we digress. I think we've established there is no definitive line to be drawn between "high temperature" and "fever".