venereal wart | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

27 entries found.

Old English weart "wart," from Proto-Germanic *warton- (source also of Old Norse varta, Old Frisian warte, Dutch wrat, Old High German warza, German warze "wart"), perhaps ultimately from the same source as Latin verruca "swelling, wart." Phrase warts and all "without concealment of blemishes" is attested from 1763, supposedly from Oliver Cromwell's instruction to his portrait painter.

venereal (adj.)

early 15c., "of or pertaining to sexual desire or intercourse," from Latin venereus, venerius "of Venus; of sexual love," from venus (genitive veneris) "sexual love, sexual desire" (from PIE root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for"). Used of sexually transmitted diseases from 1650s. Related: Venereally.

worry wart (n.)

1930, from newspaper comic "Out Our Way" by U.S. cartoonist J.R. Williams (1888-1957), in which Worry Wart is attested by 1929. Worry Wart was a generic nickname or insult for any character who caused others to worry, which is the inverse of the current colloquial meaning. For example, from the comic printed in the Los Angeles Record, Dec. 5, 1929: One kid scolds another for driving a screw with a hammer "You doggone worry wart! Poundin' on a nut till it's buried inta th' table!" (etc.).

wart-hog (n.)

1840, from wart + hog (n.).

V.D. (n.)

short for venereal disease (see venereal), by 1916 in medical publications.

antaphrodisiac (adj.)

1719, "used against sexual appetite;" 1742, "used against venereal disease;" from anti- + Greek aphrodisios "venereal" (see aphrodisiac). From 1753 as a noun, "medicine used against venereal disease." Antaphroditic is from 1706 as a noun, "medicine having the power to mitigate venereal disease;" 1755 as an adjective.

chancre (n.)

also chanker, "venereal ulcer, syphilitic sore," c. 1600, from French chancre (15c.), literally "cancer," from Latin cancer (see cancer).

wen (n.)

Old English wenn "a wen, tumor, wart," from Proto-Germanic *wanja- "a swelling" (source also of Middle Low German wene, Dutch wen, dialectal German Wenne), from PIE *wen- (2) "to beat, wound" (see wound (n.)).

vary (v.)

mid-14c. (transitive); late 14c. (intransitive), from Old French variier "be changed, go astray; change, alter, transform" and directly from Latin variare "change, alter, make different," from varius "varied, different, spotted;" perhaps related to varus "bent, crooked, knock-kneed," and varix "varicose vein," and, more distantly, to Old English wearte "wart," Swedish varbulde "pus swelling," Latin verruca "wart." Related: Varied; varying.

naeve (n.)

"spot or blemish on the skin," 1610s, from Latin naevus "mole, birthmark, wart," from *gnaevus "birthmark," literally "born in" (from PIE root *gene- "to give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to aspects and results of procreation). Now obsolete; the Latin form has been used since c. 1835 in anatomy and zoology.

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