cicatrice

American  

[sik-uh-tris, -trees] / ˈsɪk ə trɪs, -tris /

noun

plural

cicatrices

1. cicatrix.

---

Other Word Forms

• cicatrical adjective
• cicatricial adjective
• noncicatricial adjective
• paracicatricial adjective

Explanation

A cicatrice is a scar, the mark left on your skin when a cut, scrape, or burn has started to heal. If you wipe out on your bike you might end up, weeks later, with a cicatrice on your knee. It's much more common to use the word scar, but you can also use cicatrice, or cicatrix, as it's also spelled. Often a cicatrice will fade over time, as the initial wound completes the healing process, but sometimes a cicatrice can stick around for the rest of your life as a reminder of your youthful skateboard adventures. Cicatrice comes from the Latin cicatrix, "scar."

Example Sentences

For it was the body of his friend, John St. Helen, beyond peradventure?a hooplike scar over the eye, a neck cicatrice, an old leg fracture, a crooked thumb.

From Time Magazine Archive

“It’s five years ago, at the affair of the Tchanak-Kampo, and here’s a little reminiscence of it;” and, throwing back the sleeve of his right arm, he showed the cicatrice of a great sabre cut. 

From Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China During the years 1844-5-6 Volume 2 by Huc, Évariste Régis

Nigel turned pale as his eyes rested upon the cicatrice, showing like a whitish seam through the slight coating of blood.

From The Finger of Fate A Romance by Reid, Mayne

The handsome stalwart fellow, bronzed and weather-worn, his brow crossed by a deep and honourable cicatrice!

From The Curse of Koshiu A Chronicle of Old Japan by Wingfield, Lewis

The cicatrice served also as a mark of mutual recognition, so that the object and plans of the leaguers should never be discussed with others.

From The Philippine Islands by Foreman, John

Related Words

• blister
• crater
• defect
• discoloration
• disfigurement
• flaw
• scab
• wound