petechia

American

[pi-tee-kee-uh, -tek-ee-uh] / pɪˈti ki ə, -ˈtɛk i ə /

noun

Pathology.

a minute, round, nonraised hemorrhage in the skin or in a mucous or serous membrane.

petechia British

/ pɪˈtiːkɪə /

noun

a minute discoloured spot on the surface of the skin or mucous membrane, caused by an underlying ruptured blood vessel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

petechial

adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

petechiae

plural

Etymology

Origin of petechia

1575–85; < New Latin < Italian petecchia (in plural) rash, spots on skin < Vulgar Latin *( im ) petīcula, equivalent to Latin impetīc-, stem of impetīx, variant of impetīgō impetigo + -ula -ule

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023