sik bilong ples

Tok Pisin

Etymology

A compound phrase that translates to "disease of the village."

Noun

sik bilong ples

  1. A disease that affects many people in a village; an endemic disease.
    • 2022 March 31, anonymous author, The National‎[1] (in English):
      Tikindi said liver disease was what the local people refer to as bel solap sik (swollen stomach disease) or sik bilong ples (disease of the village) which some believed was a result of sorcery.
  2. (Abelam people) A undiagnosable disease that is believed to have a supernatural origin.
    • 1999 November, Gina Koczberski, George Curry, “Archived copy”, in Sik Bilong Ples: an Exploration of Meanings of Illness and Well-Being Amongst the Wosera Abelam of Papua New Guinea‎[2] (in English), archived from the original on 23 April 2025:
      When hospital staff report that they cannot diagnose the illness, villagers generally take this to mean that the illness is sik bilong ples, meaning that the illness has its roots in the village through supernatural means, and overcoming the illness is thus a village affair.
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