Keloid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An elevated and thickened area of scar tissue that forms over a wound due to excess collagen production during healing
2. A type of abnormal scar that grows larger than the original injury, often presenting as hard and raised tissue
3. A firm, rubbery growth on the skin resulting from an overgrowth of granulation tissue during the healing process

Etymology: The Greek word "khēlē" meant "claw" or "hoof," and it is the surprising root of a medical term for a scar. The Greeks never used it for scars. The name came from the 19th century, when French physicians, borrowing from classical roots, coined "chéloïde" to describe these raised, spreading scars. The shape of the growth was the reason: the scar spreads outward at its edges and gets a hard, claw-like or hoof-like border. The formation is a compound of two parts. The first is "khēlē," which gives the sense of a hoof or claw. The second is "-oid," from Greek "eidos," meaning "form" or "resemblance," so the whole word means something like "hoof-like" or "claw-like." English took the term in the 19th century through French.