whitlow

See also: Whitlow

English

Etymology

Late Middle English, alteration of whitflaw, the first element coming from either Middle Dutch vijt or Low German fit (“abscess”), borrowed from Latin fīcus (“fig-shaped (ulcer)”), though also influenced by white.[1] The Latin loan also existed in other languages, such as Old English fic (“hemorrhoids”). See flaw.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪt.loʊ/, /ˈwɪt.loʊ/

Noun

whitlow (plural whitlows)

An infection under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail.
- 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd:
  'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow.

Synonyms

nimpingang (UK dialect, archaic), paronychia, wicklow (common misspelling in some regions)

Coordinate terms

agnail, hangnail

Translations

an infection

Arabic:
Moroccan Arabic: مْشدّق‎ m (mšəddəq)
Bulgarian: забиране n (zabirane)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 瘭 (zh) (biāo), 肉刺 (zh) (ròucì)
Dutch: fijt (nl) c or n, panaritium n
Esperanto: paroniĥio
Finnish: kynsinauhantulehdus
French: panaris (fr) m
Galician: formigo (gl) m
German: Panaritium (de) n, Nagelgeschwür n
Greek: παρωνυχία (el) f (paronychía)
Italian: patereccio m, giradito m
Japanese: 瘭疽 (ひょうそ, hyōso)
Polish: zastrzał m
Portuguese: paroníquia f, panarício m, unheiro (pt) m
Romanian: panarițiu (ro) m
Russian: панари́ций (ru) m (panarícij)
Spanish: panadizo m
Ukrainian: загні́тник m (zahnítnyk), пароні́хія f (paroníxija)
Walloon: poirfi (wa) m, blanc doet (wa) m

References

Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.