pimple

English

Etymology

Early Modern English pimple, pumple, from Middle English pymple, pympyl, of uncertain origin but probably a nasalized variant of Old English *pipel, *pypel, from Old English piplian, pyplian (“to break out in pimples, show eruptions”), probably related to Latin papula (“pimple, pustule”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pap- (“pock mark, nipple”)). Akin to Old English pipliġende (“having shingles”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: pĭm'p(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪmp(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmpəl

Noun

pimple (plural pimples)

Minor pimples are circled in white.

2. (dermatology) An inflamed (raised and colored) spot on the surface of the skin that is usually painful and fills with pus.

   I had to pop that embarrassing pimple, it was huge and red and on the tip of my nose.

3. (slang) An annoying person.

   He's such a pimple! I wish he'd stop being so irritating!

4. (Cockney rhyming slang) Scotch (whisky)

   Synonym: pimple and blotch

Synonyms

• acker (old Australian slang)
• acne
• pustule
• spot (UK, slang)
• plook (Scottish)
• zit (US, slang)

Derived terms

• goose pimple
• pimpled
• pimple dick
• pimply
• simple as a pimple

Translations

inflamed spot on the surface of the skin

• Albanian: puçërr (sq)
• Arabic: بَثْرَة f (baṯra)

  Egyptian Arabic: حبة f (ḥaba)

• Armenian: պզուկ (hy) (pzuk)
• Basque: oilaur
• Belarusian: прышч m (pryšč), ву́гар m (vúhar), вуго́р m (vuhór)
• Bikol Central: punggod (bcl)
• Breton: burbu (br)
• Bulgarian: пъ́пка (bg) f (pǎ́pka), пъ́пчица f (pǎ́pčica)
• Burmese: ဝက်ခြံ (my) (wakhkram)
• Catalan: bua (ca) f, buba (ca) f
• Cebuano: bugas
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疙瘩 (zh) (gēda), 丘疹 (zh) (qiūzhěn)

• Czech: uher m, pupínek m
• Danish: filipens, bums (da) c
• Dutch: puist (nl) f, pukkel (nl)
• Esperanto: akno, aknero
• Estonian: vistrik
• Finnish: näppy (fi), finni (fi), märkänäppylä
• French: bouton (fr) m, pustule (fr) f
• Galician: espiña (gl) f, gran (gl) m
• Georgian: მუწუკი (muc̣uḳi)
• German: Pickel (de) m, Oas n (Bavaria)
• Greek: σπυρί (el) n (spyrí), σπυράκι (el) n (spyráki)
• Hebrew: פִּצְעוֹן (pitson)
• Hindi: फोड़ा m (phoṛā), फुड़िया (hi) f (phuṛiyā), स्फोटिका (hi) f (sphoṭikā), फुंसी (hi) f (phunsī)
• Hungarian: pattanás (hu)
• Hunsrik: Spingje f
• Icelandic: nabbi m, bóla (is) f, graftarbóla (is) f
• Ilocano: kamuro
• Indonesian: jerawat (id)
• Ingrian: näpykkä
• Irish: goirín m
• Italian: pustola (it), pustoletta, brufolo (it) m, foruncolo (it) m
• Japanese: 面皰 (ja) (にきび, nikibi), 丘疹 (ja) (きゅうしん, kyūshin)
• Kapampangan: punggod, dilyawat, daliauat (traditional), dalyawat
• Kazakh: безеу (bezeu)
• Khmer: មុន (km) (mun)
• Korean: 여드름 (ko) (yeodeureum)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زیپکە (zîpke)

  Northern Kurdish: pizik (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: ысык (ky) (ısık), безетки (ky) (bezetki)
• Lao: ສິວ (siu)
• Latin: pustula f, papula f
• Latvian: pūte f
• Lezgi: твар (t°ar)
• Lithuanian: spuogas m
• Macedonian: мо́зол m (mózol)
• Maguindanao: pamenus
• Malayalam: കുരു (ml) (kuru)
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: kiritona, para, mariao, huahua, mokamoka
• Mongolian: батга (mn) (batga)
• Northern Sami: náráš
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: kvise (no) f or m, kveise f or m

  Norwegian Nynorsk: kvise f, kveise f

• Occitan: boton (oc) m
• Okinawan: にくん (nikun)
• Old English: angset
• Ottoman Turkish: چبان (çıban), خراج (hurac), قبارجق (kabarcık)
• Persian: جوش (fa) (juš)
• Pitjantjatjara: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Pekjel m
• Polish: pryszcz (pl) m inan, krosta (pl) f
• Portuguese: borbulha (pt) f, espinha (pt) f
• Prakrit: 𑀨𑁄𑀟𑀺𑀬𑀸 f (phoḍiyā)
• Quechua: cupu
• Romanian: coș (ro)
• Russian: прыщ (ru) m (pryšč), пры́щик (ru) m (prýščik), у́горь (ru) m (úgorʹ), па́пула (ru) f (pápula), пупы́рышек (ru) m (pupýryšek)
• Sanskrit: स्फोटिका (sa) f (sphoṭikā)
• Scottish Gaelic: pluc m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бубуљица f, пришт m

  Roman: bubuljica (sh) f, prišt (sh) m

• Sicilian: cocciu (scn) m, cucciteḍḍu m, pàpula (scn) f
• Slovak: pupienok m
• Slovene: mozolj (sl) m
• Spanish: espinilla (es) f, grano (es) m, barro (es) m, barrillo m, barrito (es) m (Latin America), comedón cerrado m, comedón blanco m, granujo m
• Swedish: finne (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagihawat, katil (very itchy)
• Tajik: гармича (tg) (garmiča), рихинак (rixinak)
• Thai: สิว (th) (sǐu)
• Tibetan: ཐོར་པ (thor pa)
• Turkish: sivilce (tr), sızanak (tr)
• Ukrainian: прищ m (pryšč), вуго́р m (vuhór)
• Uzbek: boʻjama (uz)
• Vietnamese: mụn nhọt (vi), mụn (vi)
• Waray-Waray: punggod
• Welsh: tosyn m, ploryn m, pigodyn m
• Yiddish: פּרישטש m (prishtsh)

annoying person

• Dutch: etter (nl) m, puistenkop (nl) m, ellendeling (nl) m
• French: casse-couilles (fr) m
• Greek: κακό σπυρί n (kakó spyrí)
• Maori: pōrearea
• Russian: негодя́й (ru) m (negodjáj)
• Spanish: pendejo (es) m

See also

• blackhead
• whitehead

Verb

pimple (third-person singular simple present pimples, present participle pimpling, simple past and past participle pimpled)

1. To develop pimples

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Pimple”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

Spanish

Verb

pimple

1. inflection of pimplar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative