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. 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)

1. An infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail.

   Synonyms: felon, (Britain, dialectal, archaic) nimpingang, paronychia, (Britain, dialectal, misspelling) wicklow

   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

     'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow.

Coordinate terms

• agnail, hangnail

Derived terms

• whitlow grass

Translations

infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail

• Arabic: دَاحِس m (dāḥis)

  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: Nagelgeschwür n, Panaritium (de) n
• Greek: παρωνυχία (el) f (paronychía)
• Italian: giradito m, patereccio m
• Japanese: 瘭疽 (ひょうそ, hyōso)
• Polish: zastrzał m
• Portuguese: panarício m, paroníquia f, unheiro (pt) m
• Romanian: panarițiu (ro) m
• Russian: панари́ций (ru) m (panarícij)
• Serbo-Croatian: panaricij (sh) m, kukac (sh) m, paronihija f
• Spanish: panadizo m
• Ukrainian: пароні́хія f (paroníxija), загні́тник m (zahnítnyk)
• Walloon: blanc doet (wa) m, poirfi (wa) m

See also

• paronychia
• felon

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “whitlow”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.