Whitlow
//ˈʍɪt.loʊ// name, noun
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail.
"'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow."
- 2 a purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A locality in the Gwydir council area, north eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Example
More examples"'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow."
Etymology
From Late Middle English, an alteration of whitflaw, with the first element deriving either from Middle Dutch vijt or Low German fit (“abscess”), borrowed from Latin fīcus (“fig-shaped (ulcer)”), though also influenced by white. The Latin loan also existed in other languages, such as Old English fic (“hemorrhoids”). See flaw.
Related phrases
More for "whitlow"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.