Pymple

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small raised, inflamed spot on the skin, often filled with pus and common during adolescence
2. An archaic spelling of pimple, meaning a small red swelling or blemish that forms on the skin
3. A small, sore bump on the skin, typically reddened and sometimes containing pus, caused by clogged pores

Etymology: "Pymple" is a variant of "pimple," and it is an old one. The Middle English form was "pimple" or "pumple," and the word has long been attested in forms with a "y" as well, such as "pymple." The spelling shifted over centuries as English writers recorded the word in different ways, and the "y" version survives mainly in older texts and occasional modern writing. The underlying word is considerably older than the English record of it. "Pimple" is generally traced to a Germanic source, and the same root gives Old English and Middle Low German relatives with the sense of a swelling or pustule. Lexicographers have compared it to forms with a related shape in several Germanic languages, though the exact chain of ancestry is not fully settled, so it is safest to see it as a native English word of Germanic stock rather than a borrowing from Latin or French.