Dyspigmentation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A skin disorder defined by inconsistent pigmentation levels that may occur due to genetic, environmental, or medical influences
2. A condition where skin shows uneven coloring caused by variations in pigment concentration
3. The presence of patches or areas on the skin that differ in color from the surrounding tissue

Etymology: "Dyspigmentation" is built from two parts: the Greek prefix "dys-", meaning bad, difficult or abnormal, attached to "pigmentation," the process by which skin, hair and eyes acquire their color. Put together, the word describes coloring that has gone wrong, whether the skin has too little pigment, too much, or an uneven distribution of it. The prefix does the real work here. "Dys-" appears in many medical and scientific terms, such as "dysfunction" and "dyslexia," and in each case it signals an impairment or abnormality of whatever follows. Attached to "pigmentation," it turns a neutral description of color production into a label for a disorder of that process.