cicatrix
Americannoun
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cicatrices
plural
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Physiology. new tissue that forms over a wound and later contracts into a scar.
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Botany. a scar left by a fallen leaf, seed, etc.
noun
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the tissue that forms in a wound during healing; scar
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a scar on a plant indicating the former point of attachment of a part, esp a leaf
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cicatrix
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin: scar
Explanation
A cicatrix is the scar that's left behind on skin after a wound has healed. That raised mark on your hand where you burned yourself on a hot pan a few years ago? That's a cicatrix. You're much more likely to use the word scar, but cicatrix or cicatrice is common medical terminology, so the nurse who bandages your skinned knee is definitely familiar with this term. In Latin, cicatrix means "scar," and it's been used in medicine since the 17th century. Botanists use it too, for scars on tree bark: "You can see the cicatrix where they pruned that big branch, near the top."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She remembers the painful transitions to spring, the sea grapes and the rains, her skin a cicatrix.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Nautiloidea.—Initial chamber not inflated, with dorso-ventral cicatrix at extremity.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various
In the Ammonoidea, on the other hand, the initial chamber is inflated, and is spheroidal, oval or pyriform in shape, with no cicatrix, and separated from the first air-chamber by a constriction.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various
A cicatrix covering a slight depression was easily found, above the left superciliary ridge of the frontal bone, and over the superior orbitar foramen.
From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Franklin Bache
The softened mass is finally absorbed, and the walls of the cyst, or capsule around it, gradually collapse and form a cicatrix.
From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
But despite all her visible cicatrices, her internal scars are worse.
From Newsweek ● Oct. 22, 2012
The question of repair with or without the production of cicatrices rests upon the behavior of the connective-tissue elements.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Prior to the happy advent of technically correctly placed filtering cicatrices, a large number of surgeons depended almost exclusively on the use of myotics in so-called simple, chronic or non-inflammatory glaucoma.
From Glaucoma A Symposium Presented at a Meeting of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society, November 17, 1913 by Willis O. Nance
The cords, however, eventually completely disappear, and the cicatrices become moveable.
From Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre by George Henry Makins
Spasmodic stenosis with its consequent esophagitis and erosions, and, later, secondary pyogenic infection, may result in serious cicatrices.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson
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