yaws (yôz)pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A highly contagious tropical disease that chiefly affects children, caused by the spirochete Treponema pertenue and characterized by raspberrylike sores, especially on the hands, feet, and face. Also called frambesia.[From American Spanish yaya, sore, from Carib yaya, disease.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.yaws (j??z) n (Pathology) (usually functioning as singular) an infectious nonvenereal disease of tropical climates with early symptoms resembling syphilis, characterized by red skin eruptions and, later, pain in the joints: it is caused by the spiral bacterium Treponema pertenue. Also called: framboesia [C17: of Carib origin]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014yaws (y?z) n. (used with a sing. v.) an infectious tropical disease, primarily of children, characterized by raspberrylike eruptions of the skin and caused by a spirochete, Treponema pertenue. Also called frambesia. [1670?80;