cold sore

cold sore

English

Etymology

Compound of cold +‎ sore, probably for the tendency of the vesicles to recur along with other illness, or possibly during cold weather, though this explanation is less common.[1] Compare synonym fever blister.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊld ˌsɔɹ/

Noun

cold sore (plural cold sores)

1. (pathology) A small bump (namely a vesicle) on the lips resulting from infection by herpes simplex viruses (mostly HHV1 but also HHV2).

Synonyms

• (colloquially) fever blister, herpes
• (scientifically) herpes labialis, herpes simplex, herpes simplex 1

Translations

small bump on the lips

Catalan: pansa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 唇皰疹／唇疱疹 (chúnpàozhěn) Danish: forkølelsessår n Dutch: koortslip (nl) Finnish: yskänrokko (fi) French: bouton de fièvre (fr) m Galician: herpes m, cuxillo m German: Lippenherpes m, Fieberbläschen (de) n Greenlandic: forkølelsessår Hungarian: herpesz (hu), ajakherpesz, szájherpesz Inuktitut: ᐊᒻᒪᖅᑎ (ammaqti) Kapampangan: agyap, agiap Norman: feu sauvage m Romanian: abces rece (ro) n Russian: просто́й ге́рпес m (prostój gérpes), ге́рпес губ m (gérpes gub) Swedish: munsår (sv) n Turkish: uçuk (tr)

References

1. “cold sore, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December, 2012.

Anagrams

• coloreds, croodles, decolors, rose cold