Papule

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, raised area on the skin that is usually solid and less than 1 centimeter in diameter
2. A tiny bump on the surface of the skin that is often firm and does not contain fluid
3. A small elevation of the skin that is typically firm to the touch and measures under one centimeter across

Etymology: Latin "papula" meant a pimple or small swelling on the skin, and English borrowed it directly in its medical sense. The Latin noun is typically traced to a root that also gives "papilla," the small nipple-like projection, which points to the shared idea of a small raised protuberance rather than anything more specific. The word arrived in English as a technical term, so it never passed through everyday speech the way words like "pimple" did. Its Latin ancestor was already a precise name for a small bump, and English medical writers simply adopted it, keeping the original sense largely intact. Today it is used in dermatology to describe a small, solid, raised lesion, distinct from a nodule or a vesicle.

Synonyms: pimple, blemish, eruption, lump, nodule