Verrucae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of benign wart caused by viral infection, typically appearing on the skin as raised bumps
2. A growth on the skin resulting from a viral infection, often caused by the human papillomavirus
3. A small, often rough bump on the skin resulting from the proliferation of epithelial tissue due to viral activity

Etymology: "Verrucae" is the plural of "verruca", a term borrowed from Latin "verrūca", meaning a wart or small excrescence. The English word "wart" comes from the same source by a different route, making the two a doublet: one entered English through Latin as a learned, medical term, while the other descended through the Germanic side of the language's ancestry. The plural is what you need in clinical settings, where a physician might refer to several growths at once. Because "verruca" is a Latin noun of the same type as "verrūca" itself, English speakers keep the Latin plural rather than adding a simple "-s", which marks the word as belonging to the medical register rather than everyday speech.