I'm most excited to cover this term because it gives me a chance to talk like a pirate. SCURVY. Aye, I'm a pirate. Although pirates were not the only victims. And while it may be fun to say, SCURVY, SCURVY, SCURVY, it certainly was not fun to have. So what is scurvy? Scurvy is simply a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C in the human body.