cicatrix
Americannoun
-
Physiology. new tissue that forms over a wound and later contracts into a scar.
-
Botany. a scar left by a fallen leaf, seed, etc.
noun
-
the tissue that forms in a wound during healing; scar
-
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
You have probed each cicatrix to the bottom, and filled the minute holes with ink.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 369, July 1846 by Various
An incision was then made externally, in the direction of the urethra, so as to divide the cicatrix, and open the canal above and below the contracted part.
From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Bache, Franklin
His nose had been divided across the middle by what seemed the slash of a cutlass, the cicatrix remaining of an angry red color, amid the florid hue of the countenance.
From Confessions Of Con Cregan An Irish Gil Blas by Lever, Charles James
Even the cicatrix on his scalp was invisible, for his hair was made to cover it.
From In the Van; or, The Builders by Price-Brown, John
But despite all her visible cicatrices, her internal scars are worse.
From Newsweek ● Oct. 22, 2012
Cicatricial types of postdiphtheritic stenosis may be seen as webs, annular cicatrices of funnel shape, or masses of fibrous tissue causing fixation of the arytenoids as well as encroachment on the glottic lumen.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Jackson, Chevalier
When night came, the stars would issue from their ambush and stab it through and through, but the glittering cicatrices which they made left it bluer even, more persistent than before.
From A Transient Guest and Other Episodes by Saltus, Edgar
The resulting cicatrices may be recognized by the affected parts of the bowel being thin and more translucent than in health, and may retain these characters after the lapse of several years.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Her strength might be irrevocable and the cicatrices not to be effaced, yet give her that balm, and come what sorrow could.
From Eden An Episode by Saltus, Edgar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
