Eschar

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɛskɑː/

Definitions

1. A hardened, dead area of tissue that develops from necrosis on injured skin and can indicate the body's healing response to wounds or infections
2. A dark, dry patch of dead tissue that results from the death of skin cells due to injury, infection, or other pathological conditions
3. A black or brown crust that forms on skin as a result of tissue death often associated with necrotic wounds or infections

Etymology: The Greek "eskhara" meant "hearth" or "brazier," the flat fire-pan on which food was cooked, and the same word was also used for a scab. The link is easy to see once you picture what the hearth leaves behind: a hard, blackened crust on the ground. Greek physicians applied the term to the dry crust that forms on a wound or burn, and it passed into Late Latin as "eschara," meaning "scar" or "scab." From there the word reached English through Middle French as "eschare" (now "escarre"). It is a doublet of "scar," meaning that both words descend from the same Greek source but arrived by different routes, one through everyday speech and the other through learned medical Latin. The English noun keeps the older, more technical sense of the dead tissue that forms a hard crust over a burn or ulcer.